Vandread Unsung Hero Second Wave
by BountyRook
Summary: The war against the Harvesters resume for former Gradius pilot Seth Reager, Latis pilot Cecilia Daley and the Nirvana crew. However the Harvesters aren't the only ones they have to worry about. There's the ruthless Bacterians and Gradius out for them too.
1. Nightmare Premonition

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Wave**

 **AN:** **Finally managed to get this one rolling. Since I'm done with internship I can now fully focus on updating my other stories.**

 **Once more Patroit-112 is helping with beta reading this. Thanks to him.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter I: Nightmare Premonition**

* * *

Akira Mishima's suicide was a big shock to the Nirvana crew as no one saw that coming, none more than Seth Reager himself who discovered her dead body. At first, some of the crew were quick to paint Seth as her killer considering that everyone knew of their hatred of each other. However, those accusations vanished quickly when Seth showed everyone the data pad that contained Akira's last message before she ended her life.

" _I never thought it would come to this. Never did." Akira began the recording, "I'd always wanted to get revenge on the Gradian for taking my sisters from me… even though he had every reason to go after them. I'd always looked up to my older sisters who earned everything through hard work after we'd lost our ohma and fahma in an accident years ago. Them joining the Red Vixen Squadron was a great achievement for them and becoming the leader and second in command was an even greater one."_

 _Tears began forming in her eyes before she lowered her head_ _._ _"I thought they could never do wrong and even more I thought life was great…until the day when Gradius attacked us and my sisters were killed by one particular pilot… 'The Mejerian Butcher'…The one man who decimated the Red Vixen Squadron." She wiped the tears before looking up again. "I became a Dread pilot just so to get revenge, however the superiors kept me from going after him which ticked me off. Then when I heard of Captain Magno starting up her pirate crew I joined thinking I'd get a better chance at achieving my objective. Funny enough I found my target."_

" _When I saw the Alpinia in our first battle against the Harvesters_ _,_ _I was shocked. It had the same description of the fighter piloted by the one that killed my sisters. All I had to be sure of was whether the pilot was the same. Thanks to Barnette confronting him, I found out that he WAS the same. Then it got worse when I was assigned to work under him on the G-Team. I felt like I was thrown into hell_ _._ _So I did all I could to make it hellish for him, but didn't help my case as it put me in trouble with the captain and Meia, heck even my team mates had turned against me. But the ultimate slap in the face was when he showed the crew the video of his parents' execution, the diplomats from Gradius and my sisters were the ones who killed them. I tried to deny it. I did, because there was no way in hell my sisters could be that…vile."_

 _Akira then smiled sadly. "Then I found out that Seth himself had been through even more hell from my talk with Cecilia, even though I already found out about his own issues, like his hatred for his former family when his former sister, Cecilia herself and that other Gradian showed up to retrieve him and the Alpinia. Still my talk with Cecilia…opened my eyes to how much of a hypocrite I was. Then Seth's speech about how he saw us all as a family…was the final straw that broke the camel's back. After that, I couldn't bear to face the man or even the crew ever again due to my past actions."_

 _Akira then looked to her side, tears streaming down her face. "…I'm…sorry…everyone…especially you Seth…maybe if we met under different circumstances…things would have turned out completely different…Goodbye." She brought her laser pistol to her head and pulled the trigger…_

Needless to say the crew were shocked completely by the video, but Seth however was furious. Why? According to him, Akira took the coward's way out. He had accepted her as family even if the both of them didn't get along. He was ready to bury the hatchet that night he found her dead in her room, but she basically bitched out. Cecilia tried apologizing to Seth thinking that her talk with his subordinate may have pushed her over the edge but Seth wouldn't hear any of it because Latisian was not at fault. A funeral service for Akira was held. Unfortunately, all it did was piss off the Gradian even more as it was another death that he'd keep with him for the rest of his life just like many others in his life before he left the ceremony in anger. He then secluded himself from everyone for three weeks. It was only thanks to Cecilia, Barnette, Gascogne and his team mates that he came out of his seclusion, but still he was none too happy.

All he now did was work on the Alpinia, competitive target practice with Barnette, talked with Gascogne whom he had seen as another big sister like Miranda and trained with G-Team and Cecilia who had been assigned as Akira's replacement on the team.

…

Seth shot up from his bed, cold sweat flooding over his body as he stared at the ceiling. Why? Well he just had a nightmare where he saw the deaths of the Nirvana crew, Cecilia and himself due to an unknown enemy during a battle with the Harvesters. It sure was not the Bacterians, but it was still that disconcerting. The Gradian sat up on the edge of the bed before groaning in annoyance.

"A nightmare?" He asked himself before getting up from bed and moving to the bathroom, washing his face by the sink and staring at the mirror. "As far as nightmares go I've had worse than this. Still this one's a bit disconcerting."

Seth soon walked out of the bathroom and put on black vest, track pants, jacket, sneakers, trench coat and then his neutral face before leaving the room. Out in the corridor he walked into Barnette who was in her sleeping garments and surprised to meet him.

"S-Seth? What are you doing up this early?" The young woman asked.

"I should be asking you the same question Barnette." Seth replied.

"Had a bad dream." Barnette hugged herself as she shivered. She stopped when she felt a coat come around her. "T-Thanks."

"You're welcome." The Gradian said.

…

Hibiki stared at his Vanguard in the hangar as he thought about the nightmare.

"That light. What the heck was it?" He muttered.

"Mr. Alien." Hibiki turned around to see Dita, Meia, Jura and Barnette with troubled looks on their faces and Seth with a deadpanned expression.

"Okay…what's going on here? Did someone forget to inform me about a meeting?" Seth wisecracked.

"What is it? What are you all doing up so early?" Hibiki asked them.

Seth noticed the tinge of fear in the teen's voice. "I take it that it has to do with the nightmare we all had."

"You too Seth? You had the same dream?" Barnette asked in surprise.

"Ridiculously enough…yes I did." Seth answered. "Though I find it odd that we all had it too."

Meia lowered her head, "I-It felt like it was trying to communicate with us, sending us a message or at least that's how it felt to me."

Seth raised an eyebrow, "You mean the Paksis showed us that nightmare? Like a premonition?! Bloody hell…"

"Hold on…Are you saying you saw the same thing I did?" Hibiki asked her.

"So you saw it to then Mr. Alien?" Dita asked him.

"This is really weird…" Jura moaned, "How could all of us have the same dream?"

"All of us here have something in common. The modifications to the Dreads, Vanguard and Alpinia are proof of that." Meia explained.

"That's still weird. Having the same dream like that is...oh!" Jura stated before stopping as she felt her head throb painfully.

"Are you alright Jura?" Barnette asked.

"It's nothing. I'm fine Barnette. Thanks." Jura said. "Anyways I'm going back to bed." The blonde left the hangar and soon so did the others, except Seth and Barnette, with the former just staring at the Alpinia.

"Premonitions? Really?!" Seth muttered, "I call bullshit."

"You don't believe in premonitions?" Barnette inquired.

"I don't. I see them as complete garbage, just as much as fortune telling." Seth replied.

"That's…quite blunt of you." Barnette sweat dropped.

"No point sugar coating it." Seth said before he felt an arm around his own. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Barnette hugging his arm.

"Are you alright Seth?"

"I'm fine. If it's about the nightmare as far as it goes I've had worse."

"No. I'm mean Akira's suicide. I still think that it's on your mind. Still blaming yourself for it."

The Gradian sighed in annoyance as he gently freed his arm from Barnette's grip. "I. Am. Fine. Don't keep bringing it up."

"If you say so…I just wanted to be sure." Barnette said.

"Thanks for caring." Seth replied with a small smile on his face. "C'mon. We have things to do today." He turned around and walked out of the hangar. He didn't however, notice the blush on the young woman's face.

"S-Sure." Barnette said as she too left the hangar.

…

Hibiki was wondering through the hallway, still trying to make sense of the very same nightmare. He was brought out of his thoughts when Dita called out to him as she came running over to him.

"What do you want?" Hibiki asked.

"Well I was just wondering when you were going to come to my room?" Dita asked shyly as she twirled her fingers inside the sleeves of her pajamas.

"Is that it?" Hibiki asked in annoyance, "Look Dita, does it look like I have time for something like that right now?"

"Then when?" the redhead asked him, "Tomorrow? The day after?"

"Sometime soon ok, just not now." Hibiki told her before leaving.

From the end of the hall, Meia was watching them. Not too long ago she would've told Dita to stopped chasing Hibiki across the ship, but thanks to both Hibiki and Seth she changed. Not only did she start opening up to the rest of the crew, but she became a gentler person while not in combat. Back then she believed men to be their enemies and even considered them dangerous to be around, but now she sees them differently.

"And so a new day begins." Meia looked behind her to see Paiway and Cecilia, with the young nurse writing in her notebook and then pulled out her frog puppet, "I still can't believe Dita would chase a man. That's weird, ribbit."

"Actually that's normal human behavior!" Pyoro said as he suddenly appeared. Then he hiccups.

Paiway pushed the navi-bot in annoyance, "What do you think you're doing interrupting a lady like that, how rude!" It was then she realized something odd. "Hold on, I just heard you hiccup. But you're a machine, you can't hiccup." He proves her wrong by hiccupping, sending the nurse off her feet, much to the confusion of Meia.

…

In the meeting room were Magno, BC, Gascogne and Cecilia. The four were talking about the status of their journey while a hologram was displayed over the table.

"We are approximately 90 days away from Mejere. However, we've yet to receive any word from our home world or Tarak about the threat we're facing from Earth." BC said.

"What about those two pods we sent out before? They should have arrived by now." Magno said.

"They obviously don't give a damn if they're giving us the cold shoulder." Gascogne said crossing her arms, "Because if they did they would have responded."

"Like that should be surprising." Cecilia deadpanned.

"What are you getting at Cecilia?" Magno asked.

"Well you're a group of pirates that both worlds don't trust. They'd think that you're either trying to make them drop their guard before attacking them." Cecilia explained.

Magno smirked, "Well we ARE pirates after all."

Cecilia continued, "There's also the possibility they believe it but without more solid evidence they don't want to cause widespread panic among their people. Bloody politics for you."

"Well the fact that the Earth is coming to harvest our organs should be solid enough evidence for them." Gascogne said.

Cecilia sighed. "If only it was that simple."

A screen appeared at the captain's side showing Parfet, _"Parfet reporting!"_

"Is something wrong?" Magno asked.

 _"I'm afraid so. The Paksis is acting up again."_ The engineer answered, _"Worse I can't find the cause of it."_

"That's not good news." Cecilia said.

 _"Another thing is that the Paksis is acting like it's…confused."_ Parfet added.

"Confused?!"

"I guess that it's got something to do with the residual effects of the ships coming together." Gascogne said, leaning back in her chair, keeping her arms crossed, "Guess it feels the same way we do. Men and women are so different and so alike that we'll never be able to understand each other."

"That sounds so incredulous." Cecilia deadpanned.

The door to the bridge slid open and in came Seth and once again he had his neutral face on. "You called captain?"

"Ah yes. So glad you could come. BC, Gascogne, Cecilia...mind you could excuse us?" Magno said to the others.

Both the second-in-command and the Reg leader slowly left the conference room first, followed reluctantly by the Latisian pilot after Seth assured her that there's nothing wrong, leaving only Magno and Seth.

Magno began, "It's been quite some time since you and the other young men joined us when this all first started.

"You don't say." Seth deadpanned.

"I know I've said it more than once, but you've really become an indispensable member of the crew, even when we consider our home planets' differences."

"It's no big deal. I'm nothing more than a pilot doing his job…which is protecting his family." Seth sternly replied.

"Yes. I'm aware of that. I'm glad to know that you see us all as family." Magno said.

"A big one at that." Seth added. "It took a while but I eventually got to see you all as the family I wished I had from the start…except much bigger."

"Yes, I see." Magno said, "And I also consider you part of the family too Seth, just as much as I see everyone else." Then her tone changed, "Anyways, I'm sorry about Akira."

"Thanks…Though the fault lies with me…I was her superior. I should have been more aware of her state of mind." Seth stated.

Magno stood up from her seat and stared the Gradian in the eyes.

"Don't blame yourself Seth. No one saw that coming. Beating yourself over it won't help matters."

Seth maintained his neutral demeanor even under that gaze impressing the captain.

"True…but like I said…it's another death that I'm keeping with me. Another reminder of a life that I failed to save when I could have." The Gradian said making the captain sigh, "However, that's also a motivator to make sure no one else in this family dies again. I'll use every means necessary to thoroughly destroy anything that tries. No matter who they are. Harvesters, Bacterians, whatever…it doesn't matter. They're dead meat as far as I'm concerned."

Magno watched as the Gradian leave the room, noticing a difference in him. Normally, Seth had a casual demeanor which disguised the stance of a monster ready to snap at a moment's notice and obliterate anyone unfortunate to be in its path, due to the emotional scars he had. This time it was different; this was a soldier on a mission, ready to protect what was important to him at a moment's notice and by any means necessary. The emotional scars were still there; however, they were no longer detrimental to him.

After the doors closed behind him, Magno sat back in her chair and thought to herself as it turned around and slid back to return to the bridge, _"It is going to take all of our combined efforts to survive, but I have a feeling that it will take Seth and Hibiki to end this war we've gotten ourselves into."_

…

Stepping off the elevator, Seth made his way to the gym meeting Hibiki along the way.

"Yo." Seth greeted the younger pilot.

Hibiki stopped and looked back, "Hey Seth, can I talk to you?"

"Sure little bro. We can do that while we go through your self defence training like I said I would." Seth replied.

"Huh?! Little bro?! Self defence training?" Hibiki asked in surprise.

"I remember telling you that I'll start training you after that chaotic battle. I only didn't get to it because of that incident with Akira." Seth continued.

"Oh that. Also why are you calling me little bro?" Hibiki asked again.

"Because you're family to me even if we're not related." Seth answered, "Anyways follow me to the gym."

"Oh…Sure." Hibiki followed the Gradian, unaware of the torture he was going to go through.

…

In the men's quarters of the ship Duero was reading a book he found while listening to Bart as he chewed handfuls of pills made on Tarak.

"Women sure are weird. At first I believed that they ate a man's internal organs, but now here we all are getting along…well sort of." Bart said before noticing the book the doctor was reading, "Hey, what are you reading doc?"

Duero showed him the cover of the book in his hand it was titled 'Hello Baby'. He then read the next few lines out aloud for the navigator to hear. "The baby's life begins when the seed, that is the father's sperm is accepted by the female egg called an ovum. The two of them join to form a zygote which in turn develops into a fetus."

"A what turns into what? Are you really into that stuff?" Bart asked with confusion on his face.

"I find it fascinating." Duero replied with a smirk.

The two men heard a moan and they looked at the doorway to see a banged up Hibiki shamble in and collapse on the cot.

"Whoa! You don't look so good." Bart said, making Duero look at the cadet with a deadpanned expression.

Hibiki looked up and glared at Bart. "Try going through self defence training with a sadistic Gradian and see if you come out normal."

Bart raised an eyebrow, "Sadistic Gradian?"

"You went through training with Seth and he turned out to be quite the drill instructor." Duero summarized.

"Exactly…That guy made me carry weights and run ten laps around the gym, then he taught me the basic techniques for attacking and defending and then asked me to attack him. He wiped the floor with me and worse he was holding back." Hibiki continued.

"Be glad that Seth's even training you when he has no obligation to. With how he defeated Rabat that time I'd say that Seth has a lot of close quarters combat experience in addition to being a Gradius pilot." Duero stated.

"Really?! I know that Gradians are amazing pilots but I never knew that they are also great in hand to hand combat." Bart exclaimed.

"That's mostly because they are more known for their piloting. Many victims from Mejere can easily attest to their prowess in other forms of combat." Duero clarified before turning back to Hibiki, "Consider yourself lucky that Seth's training you at all, especially considering the bad blood between our planets."

"Yeah. You're right…I should consider myself lucky." Hibiki sighed, "Still he could be less sadistic. I already have the women driving me to my limits."

"Like that's new." Duero said in a somewhat cold tone.

"It's not just that. Dita keeps bugging me about this promise I made her during that big battle we had." Hibiki said.

"A promise?" Bart asked him.

"You promised to go to Dita's room?" Duero asked.

Hibiki nodded with a slight blush, "Yeah it just kind of came out in the moment you know?"

"So what's the big deal then?" Bart asked him, "Just go to her room."

"You go!" Hibiki yelled.

"No way, you were the one who made the promise, pal." Bart countered.

Hibiki groaned, "You got to be kidding me. Go to a woman's room? A real man would never do that."

"No, you freaking idiot. A real man would keep his promise."

Looking over to the doorway Duero asked, "Have you been standing there the whole time Seth?"

"Not really. I was passing by before I heard Hibiki's ranting about his promise to Dita." Seth replied before turning to Hibiki, "Listen bro, I know that you and everyone else on Tarak were raised differently than me and those on Tarak, Latis and other planets and colonies, but men and women being together is normal. And like I said, a real man would keep his promises, so man the fuck up, quit being such a wimp and just go see Dita already."

"He has a point." Duero added in agreement.

Hibiki sighed, "It's not that I want to break the promise it's just…"

"Just get to the point already." Seth deadpanned, making Hibiki snap.

"Look! If I go in there, what are we going to do in there? I mean what are we going to talk about?"

"Good point." Both Bart and Duero concurred in unison.

"You're asking the wrong person for answers. Figure them out yourself." Seth said.

"Well you talk with Cecilia a lot so I thought that you'd have an idea." Hibiki asked.

"That's mostly us old friends catching up with each other." Seth replied before leaving the room. Duero however noticed from the tone of voice that the Gradian may have had experience with the situation Hibiki was in, only that it must have ended on a sour note.

The Gradian made his way to the firing range. He was starting to get moody since the issue with Hibiki and Dita was once again reminding him of his past relationship with the skank Kara again. Some target practice should help relieve the stress. Arriving there he saw that he was not alone as Barnette and Jura were also there.

"Yo Barnette, Jura." Seth greeted them.

"Oh hello Seth!" Jura greeted back while Barnette found herself blushing.

"A-Ah. Hello Seth. W-What are you doing here?"

Whether the Gradian noticed the blush or not he didn't seem to show it as he walked towards the range platform. "I need to clear my mind. Think shooting down targets would help."

Barnette recovered from her blushing and tried to act aggressive. "Well how about a friendly contest. We still haven't been able to decide the winner between us."

Seth smirked as he drew out his Glock 17 pistol. "Not a bad idea Barnette." He then turned to Jura, "Feeling better Jura?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Jura replied. "What about you?"

"Yeah…I'm good. Never felt any better." Seth said as he stepped onto the circular platform that raised him to the center of the firing line.

Barnette looked over at Seth's weapon, "I still find it hard to believe that you use a weapon like the Glock 17."

"What can I say? The weapon just clicked with me when I first found it. It's finding ammo for it that has been an issue." Seth replied before activating the target discs in the back of the gallery. "The same goes for you since you're using a Beretta instead of laser weapons like the others." He immediately took aim and shot down a target before switching to the next one.

"Touché." Barnette said as she shot down a target of her own.

Both Seth and Barnette continued shooting down target after target and quickly reloading when they ran out while keeping mental notes about how many they shot down. Their contest went on until only one target was left for both of them.

From the back of the shooting range Jura suddenly said, "You know Barnette. I want to have a baby."

Surprised both Barnette and Seth missed their last targets and immediately turned to Jura in shock.

"What the!?/What?!" The Gradian and the green haired pilot yelled.

"I want to have a baby with one of them men." She saw the disbelief on their faces and continued, "What? Just think about it Barnette. I'd be the first woman in Mejere history to have a baby with a man. I'd be hailed as a hero."

"Uh huh…keep telling yourself that." Seth muttered before whispering to Barnette, "She's of in her own little world."

"Agreed." Barnette whispered back.

It was then the Nirvana's alarm went off announcing the presence of an enemy fleet.

"Just great. Let's settle this later." Seth said as he dashed out of the shooting range, followed by Barnette and Jura.

…

The Alpinia, Lord British, Vanguard and Dread teams wasted no time launching out in space for another battle with the Harvesters.

"Life form signal detected Commander." Ezra reported, "It appears to be some kind of escape pod."

BC looked at the image of the pod fleeing from the Harvesters. "Is it possible that someone escaped the harvest?"

" _Looks like it."_ Seth reported, already out in space with the Alpinia.

" _And those monsters are very eager to get them back."_ Cecilia added from inside Lord British.

" _Too bad we're about to spoil that for them."_ Hibiki also added already out in the Vanguard.

"Indeed. All pilots retrieve that pod at once! Don't engage the enemy unless you have to." Magno ordered.

"Roger that! Hibiki. After we clear the way, go get that pod and return it to the Nirvana. G-Team, cover Hibiki as he goes for the pod." Seth ordered as he flew at full speed towards the enemy.

"Got it!" Hibiki acknowledged, waiting for Seth to create the opening.

"You heard the team lead. When he creates an opening we cover the Vanguard's path." Cecilia said to her fellow team mates as she activated Lord British's Options.

Seth fired the Swarm Psycom missiles, easily taking down the incoming opposition and giving Hibiki a clear path to the pod. The Vanguard grabbed the pod and quickly made a beeline to the Nirvana.

Unfortunately, a new wave of enemies arrived and went after the Vanguard. The Lord British and G-Team came over to assist with suppression fire on the them. Cecilia watched as the enemies evaded their attacks at the last second making her growl. _'What do you know? These ones are a step above the last ones we've faced.'_ "Be advised these guys are a lot better than the ones we've faced so far." Cecilia warned.

"Got it. B-Team surround and protect the Nirvana, A-Team split up and engage the enemy." Meia acknowledged the warning and immediately ordered the Dread teams.

"Gascogne is taking off from the Nirvana!" Amarone reported as the delivery ship piloted by the Reg Central leader was out and moving towards the Vanguard and the pod.

"I'm coming in Hibiki, be ready to hand the pod off!" Gascogne ordered as she got within a few miles of the mech.

"Got it! Just make sure you get back safely." Hibiki said as he handed off the pod when the ship got close enough.

"Same for you. Do your job right I won't have to worry about that." Gascogne replied. With the drop off done, Hibiki returned to the battle.

The Alpinia and Lord British were unleashing their arsenal on the enemy opposition which was however turning out to be a pain in the ass with the way the enemy units were somehow dodging the attacks.

Seth growled in frustration, "Bastards have definitely stepped their game up!"

"No kidding! Looks like their masters decided to upgrade them." Cecilia agreed.

A small group of cube-types sped past dreads and struck the delivery ship shaking loose the escape pod it was towing and one of them swooped under and grabbed the pod before making a run for it.

" _The enemy is retreating with the pod!"_ Belvedere cried out.

"Well that confirmed our theory about them wanting that pod." Cecilia stated.

" _If what's inside that pod is important enough that the enemy is willing to turn its back on us then we simply cannot allow them to have it."_ Magno stated, _"Everyone get that pod back at all costs."_

Seth smirked, "Just the words I wanted to hear." Wasting no time Seth chased down the fleeing enemy with the Options out.

"Jura, Hibiki! Get ready to secure the pod!" Meia ordered the two knowing what the Gradian was up to.

"You're not going anywhere!" Seth yelled as he unleashed Options Lockdown on the fleeing enemy trapping them and taking them out and once more leaving the pod loose. More enemies showed up but the Dread teams took them out before they could get a chance.

"There's our cue!" Hibiki said as he and Jura fused together to form Vandread Jura. The mech wasted no time getting to the pod and secured it with its shields.

"And that's how it's done!" Jura said arrogantly flicking her hair, "Am I good or what?"

Hibiki sighed at the woman's behavior. "Yeah…well better late than never." Then the same woman scooted close to him.

"Listen Hibiki…" Jura began in a seductive tone "…I want to have a baby. Will you give me what I need?"

Hibiki's face immediately went red in embarrassment and began sweating, "Are you serious?! In case you haven't noticed we're still in the middle of a battle!"

"Save the yapping for when we're back in the ship!" Cecilia yelled in annoyance at the two pilots' antics with Annette, Monica and Lisa giggling in amusement. Meia sighed as she ordered the Vandread pilots to return to the Nirvana.

The enemy seemed to fall back and observe which Seth found very suspicious. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean? The enemy's backing off." Barnette said, wondering why the Gradian was worried. Then she suddenly spotted a new signature on the radar. "What? Something's coming."

A new enemy came onto the battlefield which had the appearance of a stingray. Its wings flapping as it swam through the void of space.

"Look alive everyone. There's an unidentified enemy in the field stay alert and be ready." Seth warned as he kept on observing the enemy. It was then he noticed that it was slowly moving towards Vandread Jura. "Shit! Hibiki! Jura! Get your asses back to the Nirvana now!"

The warning came a little too late as the stingray like foe fired its laser attack at the Vandread, scoring a direct hit and forcing the ship to separate leaving the pod loose once again for another group of cube types to grab again.

"The enemy has the pod again!" Belvedere informed.

"That's it! I've had it!" Seth growled, turning to a certain dread. "Barnette! Let's do this!"

"R-Right!" Barnette replied in surprise at the Gradian's outburst. The Alpinia and the dread fused together to form the Valkyrie and it wasted no time bringing out its sniper rifle and chased after the fleeing targets. Inside the cockpit of the mech Barnette felt herself burning up as she found herself on the lap of the Gradian with their hands intertwined on the controls. Luckily for her Seth was too focused on the battle to notice her blushing.

"You fuckers are NOT going anywhere!" Seth yelled. The Valkyrie quickly locked on to its prey before swiftly taking them out with ruthless precision and getting the pod loose again. However, before the mech could secure it the stingray-like enemy fires its weapon once again. Valkyrie brought up its shield to defend against the attack but the laser attack destroyed the shield and also badly damaged the arm too, making both Seth and Barnette hiss in pain.

"Seth! Barnette!" Meia gasped.

"Seth/Leader!" The G-Team members yelled.

Barnette grunted painfully while shaking off the dizziness, "What the hell was that?!"

"Whatever it was…it hurt like hell." Seth painfully stated. Barnette noticed that there was blood trickling down his face.

"Seth! Stay with me!" Barnette yelled in panic.

"Pipe down. My ears are still ringing and I'm barely coherent right now. Otherwise I'm fine." Seth said calmly.

Barnette sighed in relief before noticing the control sphere for the damaged arm flashing. Outside the same arm started to deteriorate, turning a dark rust color from its normal dark violet shade.

' _This can't be happening.'_ Barnette thought as she saw the nightmare coming true. It got worse when the mech powered down leaving it a sitting duck for the enemy. "What's going on?!"

Seth chuckled bitterly, "Just like the nightmare huh? Bullshit…"

The massive stingray got closer to them while priming its weapon to finish the pilots off. However, a powerful laser blast stunned it in its tracks as Vandread Dita came in to save them.

"Looks like it's your turn to be saved for once, hey bro?" Hibiki said, "Besides I'd doubt that you'd want it to end like that. Dreams may seem real when you're asleep, but we're not sleeping now and we can't let it end like this. We won't let these tin cans win."

"Tsk! Cheeky brat. Though you got a point." Seth grunted clenching the controls before glaring at the enemy. "As for you rust bucket, I believe that we're done here." The Valkyrie suddenly gained a surge of energy which helped powered it back up.

"SAYONARA!" The Gradian roared as he had the Valkyrie shove its gun blade into the Stingray and then blasted it point blank in the face. At the same time the Vandread fired its shoulder cannons.

Due to the impact from both attacks the stingray enemy was easily destroyed. With that done, Vandread Dita retrieved the pod once again and it and Valkyrie began retreating leaving the rest of the pilots to clean up the stragglers.

On the way back to the Nirvana, Meia was smiling to herself, "They're so reckless, but they get the job done."

"Is that supposed to be surprising?" Cecilia deadpanned, "That boy Hibiki has a strong will, and a lot of potential in him. All he has to do is learn how to use it. Good thing he has someone like Seth taking care of that."

"Yeah, you're right. I still worry for him though; his condition puts him at risk."

"You and me both. But knowing Seth he will always push onward."

…

With everyone back on the Nirvana, the pilots went to the sub hangar where Parfet overrode the lock to the escape pod, stepping away as a cold mist escaped from it as it opened. "Okay done."

" _A cryo pod? That's a surprise."_ Seth and Cecilia thought.

When the mist cleared those present looked in awe at what was inside.

It was a girl most likely in her early teens with deep, dark blue hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a yellow outfit and had yellow, triangle shaped earrings.

"Is she an alien?" Dita asked in excitement.

"Sorry Dita she's as human as we are." Parfet answered bursting the redhead's bubble.

"She's too into that alien stuff." Cecilia sighed.

"You're just noticing that?" Seth deadpanned.

Hibiki was in the back hopping up and down to try and get a look, but quickly gave up and started shoving his way through the rest of crew. Eventually losing his footing he fell forward and his face landed in the pod. Hibiki immediately pulled out of the pod just as the girl inside opened her eyes.

They were crimson red and then all of a sudden one of her earrings glows and a hologram of a yellow shapeless creature was projected just over her shoulder.

"Did you see that?!" Pyoro shrieked from the back.

"What is that?" Hibiki wondered just as the girl began staring at him.

"It's you. You saved me!" She said before jumping up into a sitting position and hugging Hibiki in a vice like grip. "Thank you, my lord prince!"

Barnette spoke in an awkward, annoyed tone. "Lord…"

"Prince?" Jura finished with a similar tone.

Seth and Cecilia just looked on with raised eyebrows.

Seeing this strange girl hugging Hibiki made both Dita and Jura jealous as they quickly looked at her with disdain.

"I'm going to bed." Seth said and gently pushed his way through the crowd.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 End.**

 **Now you know why Akira offed herself in the first place.**

 **Seth doesn't believe in premonitions. Funny I'm the same.**

 **Leave a review if you'd like. Flames however will be ignored and trashed.**


	2. New Member of the Family

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Stage**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter II: New Member of the Family**

* * *

Inside the hangar office room, Seth sat there reviewing the squadron reports from the last battle. The ace pilot took note of the reports on how the enemy seemed to be evolving. The harvest units seemed to be getting smarter, learning to evade their attacks at just the right moment and counter attack. Not an encouraging proposition.

' _So the fuckers are actually getting better? That's going to be problematic_ _._ _'_ Seth thought as he examined the clipboard with the report. _'Cecilia and I are fine due to our adaptable piloting skills from Latis and Gradius respectively, but the others…they'll need better training since they're more or less civilians.'_

Seth took a gulp of his warm milk before glancing back at the reports.

' _Well if the fuckers are getting better that just means we have to step up our game too._ _I'll have Parfet program the simulators to simulate…Operation Solar Assault…and have G-Team, Hibiki and the Dread Squadron go through them. That'll get them used to intense combat situations and even give them more insight on fighting the Bacterians too. Two birds with one stone._ _'_

"You're up early Seth." A feminine voice said.

"Look who's talking Cecilia." Seth replied without looking up from the report as she walked towards the desk and sat in front of him.

"Well I had a feeling you'd be up. I remember you always being up and ready to train yourself." The Latisian said.

"That's because I had something to prove back then. Anyways you mind giving me a second opinion?"

"Sure I don't mind. Shoot."

"I'm thinking of sending everyone through a new simulation to help prepare against the enemy. Since they're getting better and smarter we need to get better as well."

Cecilia raised an eyebrow. "We?"

The Gradian quickly corrected himself with an amused smile, "I meant the Dread Teams and Hibiki; you and I can handle ourselves." He then handed her the report.

Cecilia grinned in amusement as she quickly went through the report. "Sounds like a good idea to me. How about we put them through the Operation Solar Assault simulation?"

Seth chuckled making Cecilia raise an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"I was thinking of putting them through that very same simulation." Seth replied, "I had it stored on a disk before I left Gradius."

"Really? Latis also gave me one too for me to use on my free time." Cecilia said, "Besides this could kill two birds with one stone. They'd get used to an enemy that adapts and also get training at dealing with the Bacterians."

"Did you read my mind?" Seth asked in amusement.

"Nope. We just happened to have the same idea." Cecilia answered, "Anyways how about we go get breakfast?"

…

Seth and Cecilia arrived in the med bay in time to notice Duero reading the data log from the pod they retrieved from the last battle.

"Curious about our newest guest?" Barnette asked from beside Seth.

"I'll admit that I am curious." Seth answered.

"Well we're about to find out now aren't we?" Cecilia stated.

"According to the logs her name is Misty Cornwell and she is 14 years of age." The doctor said.

Paiway held up her frog puppet, "14 plus the 63 she spent in cold sleep which really makes her 77, Ribbit."

Duero humbly chuckled, "Well then, I stand corrected." Hearing Misty groan the young doctor looked down at her, "She's regaining consciousness."

Now awake Misty opens her crimson red eyes and looks around to see virtually the entire crew staring at her making her clearly nervous. Suddenly her earrings began glowing and projected a hologram of a shapeless yellow creature that looked around the room making obvious aggravated sounds.

Misty said, "Don't worry Q-Chan, I'll be alright." She shivered the moment she sat up, "So cold!"

Duero covered her with a blanket and said, "It's just residual effects from your cold sleep, it'll wear off soon."

Looking over to him Misty's eyes immediately lit up, "Wow you're a really handsome guy."

Duero's expression suddenly changed showing his confusion at the girl's words much to Cecilia's amusement.

'He's never been complimented before.' Cecilia whispered to Seth.

'What do you expect? He's from a planet of sexist morons.' Seth deadpanned.

Bart then spoke up, "Hi there. I heard that you came from a place where men and women live together. Is that true?"

"That's the dumbest question anyone has asked me. Are you a moron?" Misty replied, glaring at the blonde helmsman.

"Yes he's a moron." Seth answered, "He's also freaking insane."

"Hey! That's not true!" Bart exclaimed in denial.

"Many people here can testify to that." Seth countered with many of the crew giggling or outright laughing.

Hibiki placed a hand on the Bart's shoulder as he also laughed at his expense.

Seeing Hibiki, Misty immediately looked back to Duero, "Hey who's he? What's his name?"

"He?" Duero wondered, "You must mean one of those two. If it's not Bart, then you must mean Hibiki."

"Hibiki! What an adorable name!" Misty said aloud catching said guy's attention, "I just knew that one day I would meet someone and it would be love at first sight. The red string of fate you know."

Everyone looked at Hibiki with his face turning red in embarrassment, "No! I have no idea what you're talking about."

Misty giggled, "Wow you're so naïve, but that makes you even cuter. Well just don't stand there come on over and sit next to me."

Dita quickly jumped in front of Hibiki, holding her arms out as if she was shielding him, "No way! He's not going anywhere near you! First off red is the color of bad aliens."

Misty glared at Dita before looking at Duero, "Hey who is she? Is she his girlfriend or something?"

"Yes." Cecilia snickered.

Seth frowned at that as it reminded him of Kara before shaking his head.

Duero seemed confused again, "Girlfriend? I'm not familiar with that term."

"Seriously?" Misty asked before muttering to her pet hologram, "Q-chan these guys are pretty strange."

Jura spoke up, "Well that works from both ways and from our point of view you're pretty strange yourself."

"What kind of place have I gotten myself into this time?" Misty asked herself.

"Well besides from me and my friend here, the people on this ship come from a solar system where men and women live apart from each other. Both genders haven't spoken to each other and have been at war for centuries. If you ask me, I think this battle of the sexes is completely stupid." Seth explained.

"Oh boy." Misty mumbled and then looked at Seth. "You're a Gradian right?"

Seth raised an eyebrow at that. "Yes I am. Name's Seth Reager. This your first time meeting a Gradian?"

"Well yes I think. I've heard stories about your planet's heroics in the galaxy especially against their mortal enemy the Bacterians. The same for their allied planet Latis. And if I'm right your friend beside you…is from Latis?"

"Good eye and I'm Cecilia Daley. What gave us away?" Cecilia asked.

"I've seen photos of your people a long time ago, though I can't remember how long."

"No need to sweat the small details. Just rest up and get comfortable for now since you're more or less part of the family now." Seth said before walking out of the med bay.

"Family? What does he mean by that?" Misty asked Cecilia in confusion.

"Seth considers everyone on the ship his family and values them a lot. As for why his birth parents disowned him and his adopted parents were brutally killed by the sexist Mejerians. Then another one of the crew, a member of his squadron killed herself. All those events messed him up a lot. It actually took a while before everyone on this ship earned his trust."

"That's sad." Misty muttered.

"Yes it is. My advice is that when you gain Seth's trust you do not betray him in anyway because I fear for him if he takes another major emotional hit." Cecilia advised before she left the med bay.

…

Seth walked down the corridors of the ship, his thoughts on the Nirvana's newest arrival.

 _'That girl definitely has an objective besides escaping from those damned Harvesters but the question is what exactly? The fact that she's been in cryo for so long says a lot.'_

Seth was brought out of his thoughts when he slammed face-to-chest style into BC after turning a corner knocking both of them down.

"Sorry. Should have watched where I was going." Seth muttered pushing himself up to his feet before pulling BC up to her feet, surprising the woman with his strength.

"I can stand up myself, thank you very much." BC said with a hint of annoyance.

"I'll let that snarky remark slide only because you showed some gratitude." Seth countered before noticing a glass capsule in the sub-commander's hand. "So what's that?"

"It's the capsule that was in the cryo pod with Misty." BC replied, "The captain and I were going to ask her to help us decode it, but she's resting right now so I'll have to do it on my own."

"Mind if I join you? I need something to do and I'm decent at hacking." Seth said. _'Looks like the answer to my question's inside that capsule.'_ He thought after.

BC smiled, "Why thank you Seth, I appreciate the help. Never knew you could hack."

Seth shrugged, "You never asked. It's one of my…other talents apart from cooking, hand to hand combat and just being an ace pilot."

' _I wonder how many more he has.'_ BC thought.

…

A fuming Dita sits in the cafeteria with the Ezra as the pregnant bridge bunny hands her a drink.

"Who does she think she is? She comes barging in and hugs Mr. Alien!" Dita ranted.

"If you suddenly woke up in an unfamiliar place shocked and confused, wouldn't you react the same way?" Ezra calmly asked.

"Then how come the first thing she does is hug, Mr. Alien? What's more is that he didn't react in the same way that he does with me." Dita argued.

The gentle bridge bunny nodded, "How awkward. I guess that'd be very shocking indeed."

"Someone's being territorial and possessive." The two turned to see Cecilia standing near the cafeteria entrance.

"No I'm not!" Dita denied.

"Yes you are. Don't try to deny it." Cecilia deadpanned. "Your reaction was as expected. The moment Misty tried to flirt with Hibiki you were quick to keep her away from him. You felt threatened by someone competing for him. That shows that you actually care for him."

"Speaking from experience?" Ezra asked.

"Yes…I actually was in a relationship once with a guy in Latis. We both loved each other and whenever someone tried to flirt with him I beat the crap out of them and my lover did the same to any guy that did the same with me." Cecilia said.

"Well where is he now? Are you still with him?" Dita asked.

Cecilia smiled sadly. "He's in a better place now Dita. He died years ago in an attack on Latis by the Bacterians. It was because of his death that I became a pilot for Latis."

Dita immediately regretted asking that. "Ah…I'm sorry."

"No need. I brought it up anyways." Cecilia waved her off.

Ezra was about to say something when she feels agonizing pain hit her stomach getting Dita and Cecilia's attention.

"Ezra, what's wrong?" Dita asked.

"The baby." The brunette groaned.

"So it's finally time." Cecilia said, "Dita. I'll need your help to get her to the med bay."

Cecilia and Dita both helped get Ezra out of the cafeteria and made their way to the elevator. Along the way they came across Hibiki.

"What's wrong?" he asked noticing Ezra in pain.

Cecilia answered, "Ezra's about to give birth to her baby that's what's up. How about giving us a hand in getting her to the med bay instead of gawking?"

The Vanguard pilot gasps and joins them and the four step into the nearest elevator with Hibiki pressing the floor number that their destination is on.

Duero contacted them as the door closed. _"Hibiki, describe Ezra's condition to me."_

Before Hibiki could say anything Cecilia walked over to the speaker and pressed the talk button. "She's in pain because she's gone into labor doctor! We're cutting it close as it is right now!"

…

Meanwhile on the bridge BC had put the capsule inside a holder and Seth was typing away trying to hack the device. So far he wasn't getting anywhere and Pyoro voiced that out.

"Access denied. The message is encrypted. In order to access it, we need to know the password! I'm sorry, Seth, Commander."

"Like it wasn't already obvious." Seth said but then suddenly raised his voice in realization. "Son of a…"

"What's it? I thought you said you could decode it." BC asked the Gradian.

"I could if this was a code based security measure. I just realized that this one doesn't require a code to get through its system." Seth explained.

"Really? Then what does it require then?"

"Something else completely. This one is sound activated. It requires a certain sound to activate."

Paiway suddenly showed on the monitors and announced, _"Newsflash!_ _Ezra's baby is about to be born!"_

Suddenly Pyoro acts all funny then he short circuits, triggering a chain reaction that messed with the systems and shutting down.

"The infection's spreading throughout the entire system! We have one minute until full contamination!" Belvedere informed those in the bridge.

"What the hell did you do Seth?!" BC yelled.

"Unknowingly unleashed a virus on the ship no thanks to you!" Seth yelled back. Then the Nirvana began shaking. "Great! How convenient!" He rushed out of the bridge. BC wasted no time getting to the speakers.

"All hands on deck! The Nirvana's systems are down and we are under attack all hands battle stations immediately! Gascogne, you think you can divert power to the launch platforms?"

" _No problem, leave everything to us, you just concentrate on getting rid of that virus, okay?"_ Gascogne responded.

…

The elevator that Cecilia, Hibiki, Dita and Ezra are in suddenly stops moving with only the emergency lights still on.

"What happened? Why did we stop?" Hibiki wondered, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

This time Magno contacted them. _"There was some kind of computer virus hidden in the capsule BC and Seth were decoding, it's trying to shut down the ship!"_ Magno told them, _"Has Ezra's condition changed yet?"_

"No, unfortunately." Cecilia replied, "Without the elevator working she's going to have to give birth right here."

" _Don't be ridiculous."_ Duero said.

" _She's right doctor."_ Magno began, _"We don't have a choice. I'm afraid that baby won't wait! Listen you three do exactly as I tell you."_

Cecilia took off her jacket and folded it up before telling Dita to gently lift Ezra's head.

Once Ezra's head was off the ground Cecilia slid her vest under it as a makeshift pillow.

"Thank you." Ezra managed to say.

"You're welcome. Don't worry your baby's going to come out just fine." Cecilia assured her.

Just as Magno began giving them instructions the Nirvana shook with violent force. "Are you kidding me?!" Cecilia groaned, "Now of all times?!"

" _Don't worry. Seth, Meia and the others are dealing with that problem. Just focus on now."_ Magno said.

…

Arriving at the hangar Seth met up with Meia, Jura and his team with the exception of Cecilia.

"Some people are missing." Seth pointed out.

"Yeah I know that. Cecilia, Dita and Hibiki are trapped in one of the elevators with Ezra and it doesn't seem like they're going to be able to restore the power to it." Jura explained.

"What are you saying Jura?" Meia asked.

"Ezra will have to give birth in the elevator." Seth finished as he began walking to the Alpinia.

"That's insane!" Meia argued.

"It doesn't matter where she gives birth squadron leader, we still have to protect this ship or there won't be a home for that child to be born into." Seth said. "Anyways G-Team let's move out!"

Following their team lead, G-Team launched into battle to defend the powerless Nirvana against the enemy attacks. Soon after the other dread teams joined them.

"Darn it why'd they have to show up now of all times." Jura complained, "I really wanted to be there when that baby was born!"

"Deal with the enemy first then you can see the baby!" Seth yelled as he blitzed three enemies and took down in seconds. "G-Team, disperse and defend the Nirvana! Don't let a rust bucket get past you!"

The battle raged on with flashes of laser and missiles being fired from each side. The Dread Teams and Alpinia were doing a good job of holding back the opposition with said opposition intensifying their attacks.

Lisa noticed two new blips show up on her radar and reported, "Seth! I see two enemies coming in from the front!"

Seeing the two massive eye shaped ships approaching Seth narrowed his eyes at them in recognition. Immediately the new enemies began glowing in their center before firing large golden colored chains toward the Nirvana piercing through the ship's arms and anchoring to them.

"What the hell are they doing?" Annette asked.

"Oh hell no! They're not taking away our home on my watch!" Seth yelled, making a beeline for the two ships.

Meia flew in behind him with a group of dreads, "Target the grappling devices they have hooked to the Nirvana. Jura, Barnette take the port-"

Seth cut her off. "No dice on that Meia! Those chains are impervious to damage! We'll have to destroy the fuckers themselves! I know because I've dealt with them before."

"Is that so? Alright! I'll trust you on this Seth. New plan then! Jura, Barnette we'll be hitting that one from the left port side while I go from the right. Seth, you and G-Team take out the other one! Everyone else keep the enemy off us and the Nirvana!" Meia quickly changed her orders.

"Roger!" Barnette replied as her and Jura flew to the port side of one of the ships and began attacking.

"Got it!" Seth replied before giving his team their orders. "Annette, you and Monica attack the enemy from the left, aim for its center. Lisa, you're with me in attacking from the right! Pound that fucker into oblivion!"

The fighters hammered the two ships with relentless fire. It didn't take long before they took out the enemies, causing their chains to break free from the Nirvana. With those two gone the stragglers were easy pickings for the pilots.

…

Due to the explosion outside Cecilia, Dita, Hibiki and Ezra are sent thrashing about inside the elevator.

"Ezra!" Dita gasped in fear.

Luckily for the woman in labor Hibiki used his body to soften the impact. Ezra winced and when Hibiki looked down, he screams at what he saw.

" _Hibiki, what's wrong?"_ Duero asked.

"Water! A whole lot of water!"

"That's because her water's broken!" Cecilia answered for the teen.

" _It's called amniotic fluid. It doubles as protection for the baby inside the womb and a lubricant to help it come out of the birth canal more easily."_

Cecilia face palmed, "I already know that doctor. Spare us all the lecture please."

Ezra continued moaning in pain making Cecilia keep her focus on her. "Hang in there Ezra. It'll be all over soon." She assured the expectant mother.

"Hey old lady, she's in a lot of pain! What do we do?" Hibiki panicked.

" _The baby is on its way. Which one of you is closest to her legs?"_ Magno said.

"I am." Cecilia replied.

" _Then you're elected. Open her legs and when the baby's head comes out, pull it out gently."_ The pirate leader instructed.

"I can handle the rest Captain. I helped my sister in law when she gave birth to my nephew and niece." Cecilia stated as she got into position and opened the woman's legs.

"Hibiki your jacket please." Cecilia requested. Hibiki sheds his outer jacket and gives it to the Latisian who then uses it as a cushion and to keep the baby warm.

Cecilia said to Ezra, "Okay Ezra, we're almost at the finish line. On the count of three push with all your might. Ready? One, two, three, push!"

Ezra does as the pilot said and pushes, whimpering from the waves of agony assaulting her nerves. Cecilia smiles as she watches the infant's head slowly appear. She reaches under the baby's head to support it.

"I'm scared." Ezra whimpered.

Dita however gave the expectant mother words of encouragement. "Everyone has been waiting for the birth of your baby Ezra. So don't give up I believe in you."

Ezra smiled in response before pushing again.

"Alright. You're doing good Ezra. You're at the end. One final push is all you need."

With one final push and cry, Ezra's baby entered the world of the living. Cecilia wipes off the blood and other nasty gunk covering the baby and the infant takes its first breath. Funny enough her crying echoes through the speakers and restores all of the Nirvana's systems including the power grid. Everyone sighs in relief that the danger has passed.

"Congratulations Ezra, you have a beautiful baby girl." Cecilia said as she handed the baby girl over to her mother. It didn't take long before the newborn was fast asleep.

Ezra smiled warmly. "What do you know? She's already fast asleep."

"A mother's touch has that kind of effect. She's beautiful!" Dita said happily.

"Couldn't agree more." Cecilia added with her own smile.

" _Sorry to keep you waiting. We're starting up the elevator again."_ Parfet said over the intercom system.

Without warning the emergency breaks snap, sending the elevator into a free fall at high-speed lifting the passengers off the ground.

"Parfet! I prefer to be in one piece!" Hibiki screamed. A second later, the elevator stops in its rapid descent.

"I won't allow you to die! I will protect Pyoro 2!" Pyoro vowed

Cecilia sweat dropped at that. _'Seriously Pyoro 2?!'_

The robot lifts the elevator to a floor then stops allowing Seth and Gascogne to pry the doors open.

"To think that a baby's voice would save our skin. How magical indeed." Seth said.

"Really Seth. That's all you can come up with?" Cecilia deadpanned.

The Gradian ignored the comment to smile at the mother and baby. "Congratulations on the safe delivery Ezra and welcome to the family little one."

…

Later that day, Seth succeeded in decoding the capsule. It contained a video and Magno orders the bridge bunnies to play it.

In the video was an elderly male scientist and a younger female scientist. The female scientist bore a striking resemblance to Misty.

"My money says that she's Misty's mum." Seth whispered to Cecilia.

"I don't take sucker bets." Cecilia replied.

The elderly male began, _"I apologize for any inconvenience you've experienced as a result of our precautions. We chose an infant's voice because we believed the sound of a baby would be a true sign of humanity. I sincerely hope that those who receive this message are thriving healthily and prosperously as human life was meant to be. Since you left your homeland on Earth it has suffered drastic and cataclysmic changes. It was thanks to an interplanetary race known as the Gradians that mankind was able to set off for space to colonize other worlds. The Gradians had arrived on our planet for diplomatic reasons and seeing our dire situation they offered to help mankind out."_

Everyone was surprised as they turned to Seth who also had a brief look of disbelief on his face before it became neutral again.

" _After we bid farewell to your fleet of frontier ships_ _,_ _mankind began to turn to madness leaving the path of prosperity behind. As you know human genetic distribution as reached the saturation point, in other words human evolution for those of us on Earth is no longer possible. So some of us had to leave, to avoid the trap of evolutionary stagnation to ensure that mankind survived, but now…"_

The older man was replaced by a woman who showed them an image of a planet with massive machinery covering it.

 _"Take a look at this, this is what your beautiful homeland looks like now. The once blue atmosphere of the planet is hidden behind a monstrous web of hideous machinery. With which Luna, Earth's moon was forced out of orbit, as a result the Earth suffered a drastic change in its gravitational field. And in its present atmosphere storms rage continuously the surface is now like a giant acid field washing machine. What few Earthlings survived have created cities within these gears and are holding on for dear life."_

"Damn." Cecilia muttered.

The old man picked up again from there. _"When you left people thought you were the greatest hope for mankind's survival, but this faded with time. Now those on Earth believe that they are the only true humans and in so doing justified themselves in the right of self-preservation. However_ _,_ _the gene pool was so depleted that attempts at cloning ended in disastrous results. So with this same justification they claimed the right to harvest the organs of other humans, yours for their own self-preservation_ _._ _"_

"So that's how the harvest started." Magno said to herself.

The old man continued, _"I don't know how or why this madness started, many of those left on Earth began to blame the very Gradians for the cataclysm that befell our old home world. Now they use what is left of the original Peksis to make a fleet of unmanned harvesters to hunt you down and harvest you without mercy."_

Seth growled in anger, "Bullshit! While I'm no longer loyal to Gradius even I know that they wouldn't do something that despicable. Those fuckers were pulling shit out of their asses!"

"Which explains why they attacked Gradius." Cecilia added.

The woman picked up once again _, "It is clear that the people of Earth have made a horrible mistake, it is in order to stop this insanity that we are sending our messenger to find you. I doubt that I will ever meet you, you who are watching this message, but I beg you to help humans everywhere in their self-respecting dignity and to protect the circle of life that we all entrust to you and also do not believe the lies of the people on Earth about Gradius. There is nothing more we can do for humankind, the rest shall be up to you now. You should never allow the flame of life to be extinguished_ _._ _"_

"To protect the circle of life and everything in it." BC muttered.

"We have received their message." Magno said with a disgusted look in her eyes, "Now we must accept this challenge and adopt their commitment in the name of humanity and a world where a child can grow up smiling."

"Well said Captain." Cecilia stated.

"The bastards from Earth started this fight and we're going to finish it." Seth finished.

* * *

 **Chapter 2 End.**

 **Constructive reviews welcome. Flames and unnecessary crap are not. Have a good day.**


	3. Bacterian Assault

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Stage**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter III: BACTERIAN ASSAULT**

* * *

 **Simulation Room…**

' _Simulation complete. Please exit the simulation pods.'_

Multiple simulation pods opened and inside them were the Dread Team pilots, The Vanguard Pilot, The Lord British and The Alpinia pilots. Most of them were exhausted or very tense after completing a very difficult combat simulation. Up in the control room were Duero, Parfet and BC who had been observing the simulation run. The doctor especially had been paying attention to the pilots' health and many of the pilots' pulse rates had been erratic for most of the simulation.

"Just what kind of simulation did you program into the system?" A concerned Duero asked.

Parfet shrugged, "Nothing special really. It was just a simulation of an old mission Seth and Cecilia completed some years back."

"Old mission?" BC asked.

"Yes. Seth said it was just what he needed to help the other pilots to better fight the Harvesters and also give them another taste of Bacterian battle prowess."

"I see." Duero then looked down at the monitors of the pilots, "Whatever that mission was it must have been quite brutal based on everyone's pulse rates. The only exceptions were obviously Seth and Cecilia who were calm throughout. A credit to their training on Gradius and Latis. Seth more so with his hypertension."

"You actually allow Seth to fly with such a health condition?" Parfet asked in concern.

"The medicine I've given him has been effective and that Miranda woman had resupplied his regular medicine. Even with those, I have him rest afterwards. Besides Seth also said that as long as he remains calm he can perform at peak efficiency." Duero explained. "And so far, that has been the case, once again a credit to his discipline."

"If I'm to make a guess the mission that was simulated must have been Operation Solar Assault, a joint mission by Gradius and Latis and also the most difficult mission Seth, Cecilia and a third person completed." BC stated. "A simulation of such a mission can help greatly since from what we've seen from our first battle the Bacterians are ruthless if not more than the Harvesters altogether and there's a very good chance that we'll fight them again even if they are enemies with Earth."

"I see…Let's just hope that the training doesn't kill our pilots faster than our enemies does." Duero said.

 **After the grueling simulation…**

"Whoa. What the hell?!" Annette groaned as she exited the simulation pod, drenched in sweat. "That was insane."

"What?! Did you expect it to be easy?" A sweating Monica asked also outside of her pod.

"Considering who made us go through this simulation I doubt that." Lisa deadpanned. "This had to be a simulation of a past mission performed by a squad of Gradius pilots. Those Bacterians live up to their reputation. I doubt that Mejere's Dread squadrons would last long against them."

"I hate to admit it, but you're right." A tired Barnette added as she leaned against the simulation pod. "That was a hellish simulation."

"Hey! Didn't we fight these guys before?" A barely standing Hibiki asked.

"We did but at that time most of them were so obsessed with eliminating Seth to pay attention to us which made it easy for us to win then." Meia explained, "This simulation had them focused on everyone and it's a whole different ball game."

"Scary!" Dita whimpered beside Hibiki.

"No kidding! We barely finished that by the skin of our teeth." Hibiki stated, "Not even the men of Tarak would have lasted past a minute."

"You're all correct about that." Cecilia said getting everyone's attention while standing beside her simulation pod. "You just had another taste of the ruthlessness of the Bacterians. Frankly, I'm impressed that you survived your first encounter with them but that was only because they prioritized Seth over you people then, now I'm more impressed that you all even completed this simulation even though you're not from Gradius or Latis."

"Barely…completed it." An exhausted Jura pointed out. "Who the hell created that hellish simulation?!"

"Gradius and Latis military." Seth answered, from behind them leaning against a simulation pod. "In fact this is a simulation of the most difficult joint mission to date completed by three pilots. It's meant to test future Gradius and Latis pilots in their respective academies."

"If you don't mind answering who were the pilots that the simulation's based off of?" Barnette asked.

"We're looking at two of them." Meia pointed out, shocking everyone else but the man and woman in question. "Seth Reager and Cecilia Daley are two of the pilots, the third being Naomi Veron."

Barnette's eyes widened as she too came to realization. "Meaning that…that was a simulation of…Operation Solar Assault?"

Seth smirked at Barnette. "Yes…That was my last official mission for Gradius before I left it all behind."

"How the hell did you guys survive that?!" Hibiki asked hysterically.

"Yeah, especially just three of you. That was suicide!" Jura added.

"Yes, to you guys it's suicidal. For me and Seth it's normal. Besides the first Vic Viper pilot went alone against the Bacterian forces and completed his mission. Then his descendant did the same too and also solo mind you. If anything we had it easier because there were three of us." Cecilia explained.

"Even then it was no picnic." Seth continued, "The enemy were even more ruthless and determined than ever to kill us. Especially the Solar Assault itself. We were successful but we survived by the skin of our teeth." He then sternly looked at everyone, "Now you understand why Gradius and Latis are no joke in combat. I'm putting you guys through this because the Bacterians have you all in their crosshairs too especially now that they know you're with me and Cecilia. Those monsters don't fuck around and they play for keeps. If you slip up just once it's game over and I do not want that happening to any of you, even if you're from different planets altogether."

"But don't the bad aliens hate the other bad aliens?" Dita asked.

"Yeah. Now that you mentioned it that flaming lizard said that he only helped us because he was ordered by his master and that we have a common enemy." Hibiki added.

"The Bacterians are no one's friends. They destroy or infect everything in their path. The only reason they are even after the Earth is because of their attack on Gradius. The Bacterians have sworn to destroy Gradius and Latis and had made it quite clear to other planets that no one was to touch us." Seth said.

"In other words Earth did not get the memo and went after your planet drawing the Bacterians' wrath." Meia stated.

"Exactly. So while we and the Bacterians have a common enemy in Earth, it doesn't mean that they won't kill us all at the end. The Bacterians only care about themselves after all." Cecilia said.

"Anyways enough of the lecture. That's the end of training for today. We'll continue same time tomorrow. Except for you Hibiki you still have combat training with me later." Seth said before leaving the simulation room while Hibiki paled at the thought of training which Cecilia saw.

"Fearing for your life again?" Cecilia deadpanned.

"Considering the sadist Seth is during training, then YES I have EVERY right to be afraid!" Hibiki exclaimed.

"I thought that you'd be glad that Seth's training you especially when he sees you as the 'troublesome little brother'." Cecilia said.

Hibiki sighed, "It's not that I don't appreciate it. It's more like he'd kill me faster than the enemy will with his sadistic training."

Lisa scoffed, "Quit being such a baby Hibiki. You have it easier than us."

Monica added, "Exactly. Seth's our team lead and he pushes us more than you since we're directly under his command and are more or less his responsibility. You're just being taught self-defense training while we are being taught that and also being trained in piloting too."

"And we appreciate it, even when he's a hell of a drill sergeant at that." Annette stated, "So be thankful that you're being trained by him. Like he said he doesn't want the worst to happen to us since we're family to him."

"I guess I see your point." Hibiki sighed.

"If it'll help I'll ask Seth to ease up on you." Cecilia said, "Whether he'll listen to me or not I can't say."

"That will be appreciated." Hibiki said before leaving the hangar.

…

After dropping off an exhausted Hibiki at the men's quarters after a less than intense combat lesson, Seth arrived at the garden area of the ship and sat on a bench to do some thinking. First he is impressed at how much Hibiki had improved in hand to hand combat. While not at the Gradian's level the teen is a much better fighter compared to the wild brawler that got his ass handed to him by Rabat before getting bailed out by Seth himself. His 'little brother' was still a little rough around the edges and prone to letting his emotions get the best of him but those were becoming less of an issue thanks to Cecilia helping out with instilling discipline into him.

Second, he is surprised that many of the Nirvana's pilots successfully completed the Solar Assault simulation even if it was by the skin of their teeth. That impressed him even more as they had only gotten a small taste of combat against the Bacterians and for people who weren't Gradians, Latisians or even military they managed to complete that simulation. Still he wondered if they would be able to handle a battle on the scale of what he, Cecilia and Naomi went through.

Speaking of Gradius' mortal enemy, Seth wondered about what those monsters were up to. He knew that those fuckers were planning something for him, Cecilia, the Nirvana crew and even the Earth and the pilot had a feeling that they were going to find that out very quickly.

Shame he had no idea how right he was going to be.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps approaching him. Looking over his shoulder Seth saw Barnette approaching him before reverting back to looking at space.

Speaking of Barnette, Seth didn't know how but last week he had begun having feelings for the fiery green haired Dread pilot from Mejere, which was ironic considering how much they despised each other in the beginning. The woman's fiery nature reminded Seth of Kara when they were young and still dating, that was until she slept with that bastard Rugal. That aside, Kara's fiery nature then was what got Seth attracted to her in the first place and it seemed that the same was happening again with Barnette who was even fierier than his ex. The only problem…is he ready to be in another relationship again? Especially with a woman from a planet full of man-hating women? Will such a relationship even work at all? Would she even return his feelings?

"So this is where you've been hiding Seth?" Barnette said as she sat down beside him…closer than he expected.

"Me hiding? From what?" Seth replied jokingly.

"You tell me! I've been looking all over for you, wondering where the hell you were. Checked your usual spots but you weren't at any of them." Barnette continued.

"Then you can add this place to that list then. Found out it's a good place to sit and do all the thinking I want while looking into space without being bothered." Seth said, "It reminds me of my academy days."

"You mean back on Gradius?"

"Yes…The common room there had a skyline like this that showed the vast space. You could look at the stars with a telescope if you wanted. I sat in a secluded area of the room and just got lost staring at the vast space. The command room was similar as I could do the same except there were more people there but no one cared to bother me as they were all professionals not nincompoops like the ones at the academy. Those were the only times I could keep calm and be loose instead of all serious and tense all the time."

"That explains a lot of things." Barnette muttered. _'With what he'd been through it's no wonder why he could barely trust anyone when he first arrived, not adding his history with Mejere.'_ Looking up she couldn't help but hide the blush on her face when she looked at the Gradian.

Seth noticed the Mejerian looking away from him making him raise an eyebrow in intrigue. However, before he could inquire about it he heard fast approaching footsteps coming towards them causing the two pilots to look at the owner who was Dita and she had a nervous expression on her face. At the same time, Seth felt something very familiar in the vicinity.

"Something wrong Dita?" Barnette asked her.

"The long range scanners have detected some kind of large structure." Dita responded.

"How large to be exact?" Seth asked.

"Planet-sized." Dita responded.

"Planet-sized?" Barnette repeated in confusion.

"Yes. The scanners also detected that the structure was somewhat alive. The captain said she has a feeling Seth and Cecilia might know something about it."

' _A planet-sized structure that seems somewhat alive.'_ Seth wondered before his eyes widened slightly, _'If that is what I think it is then we're going to have a big fight on our hands.'_

Seeing the look in his eyes Barnette and Dita could see that he may have realized something.

"I take it that you actually have an idea what it is." Barnette stated.

"Maybe, maybe not. Only one way to find out." Seth replied before rushing to the bridge.

Arriving at the bridge Seth saw that the bridge crew had a look of disgust on their faces while Cecilia was scowling at the screen above them. He too looked up and growled as he saw the image of the structure they had found.

"From the look on your faces you two do know what it is." BC concluded.

"Oh yes we do alright." Cecilia said, "Any pilot from Latis and Gradius would easily recognize that."

"An Organic Fortress. Basically a command base of the Bacterians." Seth added.

Cecilia explained, "When the Bacterians take over planets, they use bio-weapons to grow Bacterian cells on their conquered territories, transforming them into Organic Fortresses. The Organic Fortresses are headquarters where the Bacterians plan their attacks."

"You mean that that fortress was…a planet?" BC asked in disbelief which the bridge operators also shared.

"Unbelievable." Magno muttered in disgust.

"Fortunately the planet can be returned to its original state by destroying the core inside the fortress." Cecilia assured them, calming them down. "That is depending on how much they've infected the planet." The crew became tense again.

"So we all we have to do is destroy the core and the planet will be restored." BC said.

"Pretty much though like Cecilia said it depends on how long it's been infected." Seth confirmed, "However, the Bacterian forces stationed there won't make that easy for us."

"We expected as much from such an enemy especially after that brief show of force by the Intruder being from earlier." Magno said.

An anxious feeling fell in the room as everyone recalled the destructive power of the being that destroyed a Harvester flagship and somewhat helped them at the orders of its master.

Magno continued, "Anyways I'll be having the ship on high alert and staying just out of the base's radar range. I need you both to be ready for the battle to come."

"Understood Captain. This will be a full scale assault on the Bacterian fortress." Cecilia said before turning to Seth. "Speaking of which, how long has it been since our last fight with those bastards?"

"In your case, since Operation Solar Assault, which was years ago." Seth responded, "However for me it was last year."

"Well then how about you two get ready then." Magno said to the pilots before turning to the bridge operators, "Amarone, Belvedere, Celtic and Ezra I want all of you to continue scanning that fortress. I want to know everything about it down to its wall. Bart, keep out of that structure's radar got it!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Bart said in annoyance.

A collective roger came from the four bridge operators as they began scanning the Organic Fortress again.

Before leaving Seth contacted Reg Central's leader. "Gascogne?"

"Hey Seth! What can Reg Central do for you?" Gascogne replied.

"How about a lot of ammo?" Seth requested.

"Describe a lot."

"Enough for a full scale assault of an Organic Fortress."

…

The dread teams had gathered in the hangar getting ready for deployment where the Alpinia and Lord British pilots were already waiting.

"So we're finally going to fight the Bacterians? Hell yeah I'm so pumped." Hibiki said with bravado.

"Keep the bravado to a minimum lil' bro, this is serious." Seth stated.

"Can't blame him. He like everyone else is anxious about tangoing with the enemy only you and I have any real experience with." Cecilia said.

"Cecilia does have a point. This will be the Dread Team's first real battle against the Bacterians unlike the simulation and that first encounter." Meia agreed, "While that was a big help in preparing for them, a real battle would help even more."

"I get it, Meia. But this is serious and I just want him to understand the gravity of the situation." Seth replied, before looking at the assembled pilots, "Is this everyone? We don't want a repeat of that time when Jura thought it was a good idea to get drunk with Bart than join us in battle."

"Hey!"

"Everyone's here Seth. We're just waiting for further orders from the captain and what you and Cecilia are to tell us." Meia said. The Alpinia and Lord British pilots put their game faces on.

"Alright. The enemy structure that was detected is a Bacterian command base known as an Organic Fortress." Cecilia began.

"Like that Solar Assault in the simulation?" Jura asked.

"They have a few similarities but they are still different." Cecilia answered, "Unlike that fortress this one was originally a normal planet. That base is the result of Bacterians infected it with their cells."

"Oh my!" Dita gasped. The other pilots shared the same disbelief.

"Oh boy…"

"I think I'm gonna be sick…"

"Join the club."

Cecilia continued, "Disgusting bastards, right? Yeah I had the same reaction as you all. However, unlike Earth who just want our organs for their self-preservation, the Bacterians want us all dead. So even Earth isn't exempt from their wrath."

"Fortunately we can save that planet." Seth interjected.

"How?" Monica asked.

"We destroy the core inside that fortress. With that gone the planet will revert back to its original state, but that also depends on how badly the planet's been infected."

"So all we have to do is go inside that thing, destroy the core and that'll be it." Hibiki said.

"Pretty much." Cecilia confirmed.

"Though I doubt the Bacterians would make it easy for us." Barnette stated.

"Preaching to the choir here." Annette deadpanned.

The intercom in the hangar beeped and the captain's voice called out to the pilots. _"Seth, Cecilia are you there?"_

"Yes Captain." Said pilots responded.

" _We've completed our scans of the Organic Fortress. There are_ _what appear to be anti-ship defenses outside the structure, not to mention some sort of radar that will detect us if we get any closer and will alert the enemy to us. Our more precise scans have also revealed that the inside of the structure is housed with thousands of enemies, a more powerful enemy unit and an energy source at the center of it all which we presume is the main core."_ Magno detailed.

"Like that's any form of bad news." Cecilia sweat dropped, "These are the Bacterians we're talking about."

" _Opinion noted Cecilia. Anyways I'm having you and Seth be the ones to lead this attack since you both know about it best."_ Magno said.

"Understood Captain." Seth said.

Magno ended the transmission and the Gradian and Latisian turned to each other.

"Well you ready Cecilia?" Seth asked.

Cecilia grinned back, "I obviously am. You?"

"I'm already got my game face on." Seth replied.

"Well since you two are leading this attack what's the game plan?" Meia asked.

Seth and Cecilia could see the determination on the faces of the pilots along with a little anxiety but that wasn't surprising since they are fighting the real deal now and not a simulation. They knew what they were getting into.

"First Barnette and I along with Hibiki and Dita will take out the fortress' radar and exterior anti-ship defenses with Valkyrie and Vandread Dita and initiate the assault. The Dread Teams will punch a hole through the enemy formation that comes out so that Cecilia and I will go in and make our way to the core. Be ready to support your fellow pilots and not let the enemy overwhelm you. Any questions?"

"Are you sure about that? Just you two going in there?" Barnette asked.

"What? Worried about your boyfriend's safety?" Cecilia teased, "Don't worry I'll keep him alive for you."

Barnette's cheeks got red very quickly and turned her face away stammering, "W-What the h-hell are you talking about Cecilia!? I-I'm just worried about my comrade damn it!"

"Sure." Cecilia said skeptically.

"We need everyone at their best Cecilia so please stop hassling Barnette." Seth said, though the Latisian could faintly see that he was embarrassed too.

"Yes sir!" Cecilia mock saluted.

"Honestly Cecilia..." Seth sighed before getting back on track, "As for Barnette's question, why just me and Cecilia, it's because we know more about Bacterian bases than you all especially Cecilia since she's already participated in the destruction of a few Organic Fortresses."

"I'd like to know how you knew about those." Cecilia deadpanned.

"Let's just say not much goes past Miranda." Seth said.

Cecilia rolled her eyes. "Of course. Miranda Locke and her underground extranet."

"Well why can't we just use our Vandread to take it out?" Meia suggested trying to get things back on track.

"Yeah. With one shot we can take out the core without you two risking yourselves going inside." Hibiki added.

"It's not as straight forward as you think." Cecilia stated, "Not every Organic Fortress has the same layout. Some might have a straight forward path to it and some have lots of twists and turns along with diabolical traps and machines to guard the core."

"And depending on what the bridge gets on the scans the Vandread option may not be applicable." Seth also added, "However if the layout is straight forward then we'll go with it. If not then it'll be just me and Cecilia."

" _Seth, Cecilia! We've gotten a complete scan of the interior of the fortress."_ BC announced.

"Patch it through to us." Seth said. Soon a holographic plan of the Organic Fortress was sent to his tablet before he opened an enlarged version for the Dread Teams to see.

"Well looks like our one shot attack's out of the question." Hibiki said with a sweat drop when he saw the maze-like plan of the base.

"So dizzying..." Dita said as she tried looking at the plan too.

"Well you're not going in there so don't bother reading it." Jura deadpanned.

"Looks like it's down to the two of us then." Cecilia stated.

"Yeah." Seth said, "Alright here's the mission plan again: Valkyrie and Vandread Dita take out the outer defenses and Dread Teams punch a hole through their dispatched forces while Cecilia and I go into the fortress take out the core. Once more any questions?"

"What about an escape route?" Meia asked.

"We'll improvise. We always do." Cecilia answered.

"You all know the mission plan." Seth stated while cracking his knuckles in both hands. "Alright...It's game time!"

"YEAH!" The pilots chorused as the scrambled to their crafts.

 **...**

Outside the radar of the Bacterian Fortress, the Nirvana, Dread Squadrons, Valkyrie and Vandread Dita waited in position as the two mechs readied their weapons. Valkyrie with its hyper anti-material rifle which had split into multiple barrels and Vandread Dita with its cannons.

Both mechs aimed at their targets; the fortress' radar and exterior anti-ship defenses.

"Targets acquired." Barnette said as she confirmed multiple targets being locked on in the mech's cockpit.

"We're good to go." Seth said, "Hibiki?"

"Targets locked! Ready when you are Seth!" Hibiki replied.

"Yeah!" Dita added.

"Alright on my go." Seth ordered, "Ready...FIRE!"

Valkyrie and Vandread Dita fired their weapons at the same time. Multiple laser beams and rail shots hit their targets as the Organic Fortress' outer defenses and radar were put out of commission which took the opposition by surprise.

" _The fortress' radar and anti-ship defenses are down!"_ Ezra reported.

" _Alright teams! Let them have it!"_ Magno yelled.

"Everyone attack!" Meia ordered.

A collective roger came as the assault began on the Bacterian base. Bacterian ships came out to engage the dread teams, the Lord British, Valkyrie and Vandread Dita with the Nirvana providing support fire.

"Everyone. Punch a hole through the opposition!" Cecilia ordered. "We need the opening for the attack on the core."

"Right ahead of you!" Jura yelled as she quickly took down three enemy ships in rapid succession. "B Team on me! We're going after the enemies on the East side of the base!"

"G Team on me!" Seth said from inside Valkyrie, "Hit hard, hit fast and don't let them get the jump on you!"

"Roger!" Seth's subordinates answered as they joined up with the mech to cut a swath through the opposition.

"Whoa! This is intense!" Dita said as she and Hibiki shot down more enemies.

"They're relentless like the Harvesters but even more deadly!" Hibiki remarked.

Five minutes had passed and the Nirvana crew had dealt heavy casualties to Bacterian defenders. However the enemy still kept fighting back undeterred.

"Okay! We really need a hole in their formation like yesterday!" Cecilia yelled as she took a high-G turn to avoid an enemy while Lisa finished it off for her.

"We got that covered!" Seth acknowledged, "Dita, let's do this!"

"Okay Seth!" Dita said as the Vandread and Valkyrie defused before she and Seth met up and the Berserker came into play.

"Everyone outta the way!" Dita yelled which the others quickly did as the giant raging mech cleaved through enemy ships in a much more controlled rampage.

"Alright! Their numbers are falling!" Meia said, "Another push and we'll get the opening for Seth and Cecilia!"

" _Warning! High energy level approaching from the fortress!"_ Amarone warned.

"Is it the same one that was discovered earlier?" Barnette asked.

" _No, that one is still inside the fortress. It's guarding the entrance to the core!"_ Belvedere informed. To confirm that a Rotating Launcher came out of the fortress and joined the fight.

"That thing again?!" Barnette yelled, "Didn't we already destroy it?!

"It's just another one Barnette." Jura stated, "Since we know how to handle it his time we can put it down."

"It's about to attack!"Meia warned.

"Evasive maneuvers everyone!" Seth ordered.

" _No need to tell me twice!"_ Bart yelled as he moved the Nirvana out of the line of fire.

Everyone did the same and was able to avoid its laser beam attack.

"Hibiki. Meia!" Seth yelled.

"Already ahead of you!" Meia said.

"Let's do this!" Hibiki added as the two pilots fused together to bring out Vandread Meia.

"G Team! Take down those barriers!" Meia ordered as the Vandread began to charge up its attack.

"On it!" Seth acknowledged. "Cecilia! G Team! Drop that defense!"

"On it!" Cecilia and Annette said as they began strafing runs on the Rotating Launcher while it was still recharging its weapon and firing lasers at them. Lisa and Monica joined in and added missiles to the barrage. In no time the barriers were down.

"Meia, Hibiki! Its defenses are down! You've got one shot!" Monica said.

"Crap! It's charging up another attack!" Cecilia warned.

"Not on our watch!" Hibiki said. Vandread Meia wasted no time unleashing its high speed attack and passed right through it while destroying the core before the enemy blew up.

"Good one you two!" Cecilia said impressed at the attack.

" _Seth! Cecilia! You have your opening! Now's your chance!"_ BC stated.

"Alright! Let's go Cecilia!"

"Right with you!"

The Alpinia separated from the blue Dread and joined the Lord British as both Gradius and Latis fighters flew into the Organic Fortress for their perilous part of the operation.

"It's up to them now."BC said.

"May the goddess guide them both."Ezra said.

"With their experience I'm confident in them getting this done."Magno said.

 **...**

The Alpinia and Lord British sped on towards the core following the map that the Nirvana bridge crew had already given them.

"Here we go again." Cecilia said, "Another core to destroy...just like Solar Assault."

"You take point and I'll cover you." Seth said.

"Well that's a surprise, I was expecting you to take point." Cecilia remarked.

"I'm not in the mood for glory hogging, alright? So you take point while I take trail position." Seth replied.

Cecilia shrugged before focusing in front of her. "Okay...let's rock and roll then!"

The two space fighters sped deeper into the base with their Options out. There was some resistance but they were easily taken out by the two pilots. Following the map Cecilia and Seth navigated through some tight turns and descending corridors. While the opposition was less since most of them were sent to defend the fortress that didn't mean that the place wasn't trapped as the two pilots had some close calls in the hazardous paths.

" _There's a powerful signature up ahead. Most likely the last line of defense."_ Celtic warned, _"Be careful you two."_

"Thanks for the warning Celtic." Seth replied.

Cecilia giggled. "Well now? Let's greet them then."

When they entered the chamber that led to the core room, the two star fighters were met by a large ship with two arms standing in their way.

"Looks like we have another one of those core warships. Except it has two arms." Seth stated, "Which also means it has the same weaknesses and barrier defenses."

"Those arms though look like they'll be a problem." Cecilia observed.

"Like it wasn't already obvious." Seth deadpanned.

"Point taken. Still, be on your guard Seth."

"I know Cecilia."

The large core warship began the fight moving its arms up and down, firing giant lasers as well as smaller lasers from the appendages making the two space fighters take evasive actions. Alpinia and Lord British fired back with laser fire and Option support and managed to get a few hits in on the barriers. Soon the warship arms began to track both fighters before firing another laser barrage forcing the pilots to wait and time their evasion before counter attacking. Soon the warship turned around exposing more barrier behind it.

"So this one has barriers behind it too?" Seth said.

"Looks like it though I can tell these ones are sturdier than the frontal ones." Cecilia stated. The core warship then turned back with a huge boulder in its arms. "What the heck?!"

Seth wasted no time firing the Swarm Psycom missiles and destroyed the boulder.

The warship then resumed its earlier pattern of moving its arms around and firing lasers before turning to grab another boulder except much bigger and began sweeping it around. Fortunately the Alpinia's Swarm Psycom Missiles made that attack redundant.

"Well now it's time to put an end to this one." Seth said, "I'll take the front and distract it, you circle back and take it from behind."

"Sounds like a plan." The Latisian pilot acknowledged.

With that it didn't take long for the two fighters to pincer the core warship and begin assaulting it from both sides. In response to their tactic it forgoes grabbing boulders and instead began to wave its arms around erratically to fend off the attacks unfortunately it wasn't enough as it soon succumbed to the firepower of both ships and went down in flames.

"Well that's taken care of now for the main core." Cecilia said.

"Nirvana, how's the situation out there?" Seth requested to the bridge.

" _The situation's under control though the enemy's getting more aggressive."_ BC replied, _"What's your status?"_

"We're about to hit the main core." Seth replied, "How long can the dreads hold?"

" _Not so long Seth. The sooner you're done the better."_ Meia said.

"We're working on that now." Cecilia said as the Lord British and Alpinia arrived in the main core room where the Organic Fortress Core was. Seth wasted no time firing another salvo of Psycom missiles and began doing damage.

"I'm running low on missiles Cecilia. What of you?"

"I'm out. I'm down to my laser and Options. We need to end this now, focus fire!"

Option lockdown and swarm missiles along with Ripple laser, Disruptor and options wasted no time breaching the core defenses and destroying the core. With that the fortress began to fall apart and the Lord British and Alpinia gunned for the exit.

" **Y-you may have d-destroyed this base, b-but you'll not live to enjoy the success!"** The voice of the main core echoed through the base during its final death throes.

"Looks like they're desperate to take us down with them." Seth said.

"Like that's a surprise from the sore losers." Cecilia said.

" _Seth, Cecilia. I take it that you've succeeded in taking out the core since the enemy units outside are getting destroyed."_ Magno stated.

"Yes and we're on our way out of here!" Seth responded.

"Bridge! How long do we have before this fortress goes boom?" Cecilia asked.

' _Not long! You have exactly 80 seconds and counting!"_ Belvedere answered.

"Time to Speed Up then." Seth said as he activated the speed boost.

"Oi! Don't leave me behind!" Cecilia said in hot pursuit with her own speed boost.

The two had to dodge so many falling debris as they backtracked to the entrance while having some very close calls. Soon they reached their way out but another problem arose. The blast doors were closing on them.

"Crap! They're gonna box us in."

"We can make it!"

" _Thirty seconds!"_

"This is gonna be close!"

The two space fighters went into overdrive as they continued to the exit. Alpinia fired charged Twin lasers while the Lord British fired a charged up Disruptor shot which blew a bigger hole in the blast doors.

" _Twenty!"_

"Definitely gonna be cutting it close!"

" _Ten!"_

"RAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" Both pilots yelled while they were hit by the G-force as they just barely got out of Organic Fortress and continued speeding towards the Nirvana.

The Fortress then expanded before it went up in one hell of an explosion. Luckily for everyone the Dread Teams and Vanguard had already made it back to the Nirvana which had already retreated back; The Alpinia and Lord British just barely escaped the blast radius.

At the bridge the crew were tense and anxious hoping that their two crew members had made it out. In the hangar the dread pilots especially Barnette and G-Team were even more anxious.

"Ugh! That was cutting it way too close!" Cecilia said.

"I hope we never have to do that again!" Seth added tensely.

"The Alpinia and Lord British are present and accounted for." Ezra reported which made everyone sigh in relief. "However they're moving very fast."

"Open the doors we're coming in fast!" Seth said.

The Nirvana hangar bay doors opened and the two fighters darted right in. However, due to their earlier speed the Alpinia and Lord British have anything but a smooth landing as they landed roughly in the hangar and they skid for a while before coming to a stop. Fortunately nothing else was damaged and no one was hurt.

The engineers and dread pilots rushed to the two fighters and desperately began to open the cockpits. Fortunately the engineers popped them open and others managed to pull the fighters out of their fighters and removed their helmets. Both Gradian and Latisian were out of breath as they were supported by their fellow pilots not to mention both were burning up too and had to be rushed to the med bay.

 **...**

A week had passed after the successful assault on the Organic Fortress.

The Nirvana crew didn't suffer any casualties though there were a few wounded pilots during the final stretch. Overall everyone came back alive. As for the Organic Fortress in its place was the original planet which had begun recovering which meant that it hadn't been infected that badly which also meant that the fortress had only been established for a short while.

Seth and Cecilia though cut it the closest as they barely managed to escape the explosion after taking out the core of the fortress and not only did they have to make emergency landings due to the use of speed boost to escape the fortress earlier they were nearly out of breath and burning up, which was worse for the Gradian due to his hypertension.

Cecilia recovered faster of the two, getting back to her feet after a day while Seth was out of it for three days before he even woke up again with Duero and Paiway hard pressed in keeping him stable. Fortunately he was awake and recovering well.

"Once again Seth, you amaze me with how you're a pilot with your condition." Duero addressed the Gradian on the bed.

"That would be because I'm good at what I do." Seth replied.

"I won't argue with that as you've proven it so far but after that last stunt you had everyone worried. So as the ship doctor I will invoke a medical override and have you grounded for at least a month." The Tarakan doctor stated, making the Gradian sit up with narrowed eyes.

"Seriously?! Look I'm fine now and still able." He argued.

"True but with how you and Cecilia cut it close during that last operation, I'm going to be closely monitoring you until I am 100 percent sure that you are fit for duty." Duero said with finality. "Besides the captain and Meia were going to tell you the same thing. I just beat them to it."

"Tch! Fine. Do whatever you want." Seth reluctantly yielded.

"It's for your own good Seth. Everyone was worried about especially Barnette who spent those days you were unconscious at your bedside even to the point of starving herself."

Seth flinched at that. Yeah, he was going to apologize to her for that. The pilot sighed. "Alright I get your point."

"I hope you do. We wouldn't want to lose someone of your abilities." Magno stated as she, BC and Gascogne entered the med bay. "Not to mention Miranda will more than likely have my head if I let you die while under my command."

"Nice to see you too Captain." Seth remarked.

"So how's our ace pilot doing Doctor?" BC asked Duero.

"He's fine however I'll be having him not do any piloting until I'm sure he's fit for duty again." The doctor responded.

"Good to hear. I was going to have him grounded anyways." Magno remarked.

"Not like it'll matter as the Alpinia's going to be out of commission for a while too. You sure as hell overclocked its systems." Gascogne stated.

"Had to so as to not get blown to kingdom come." Seth deadpanned, "So how long will the Alpinia be out then?"

"Three weeks tops thanks to Parfet working on it. Same for Lord British so Cecilia's in the same boat as you." Gascogne replied, "You can at least take a break from the fighting and be a stagehand yourself."

"Nah. I'd rather be in the thick of the action." Seth remarked, "Suits me better."

"Well you're going to be behind the scenes this time anyways. At least you and Cecilia can continue with your training of the Dread Teams in dealing with the Bacterians and in time your former allies." Magno said.

Seth's expression turned dark when the captain mentioned former allies.

"We know that Gradius will be sending more firepower to deal with us since our refusal to let their task force take you." BC said, "And we know that they'll be tossing the kid gloves off this time. We'll need to be ready when we inevitably clash."

"And considering how much they despise us it won't be pretty. It will be a gritty fight for our lives." Gascogne added.

"Oh I'll be glad to help." Seth said darkly, "Gradius are not taking you all from me and I'll make sure of that no matter what it takes."

* * *

 **Chapter 3 End.**

 **Just managed to update this. Hopefully this makes it easier for me to continue doing so. Constructive review and criticism welcome.**


	4. Hope for a new generation

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Stage**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter IV: Hope for a new generation**

* * *

"What a piss hole. And that's putting it lightly." Seth remarked stood at the top of a hill, looking out at the barren wasteland of the planet the Nirvana had stopped at. With him were Cecilia, Barnette and Meia. "Just when I've seen enough crap I just realize that someone has it much worse."

Unfortunately there were people living on this diseased planet. It was so horrible that it was nothing short of a surprise that the people there were even alive. Their bodies had no nutrition, no muscle mass, and their skeletal structure was frail a brittle. From what they told the crew of the Nirvana, the bastards from Earth had colonized this world and forced them to live there so they could easily take the organs from their deceased without the possibility of them fighting back, an act that angered the entire crew.

"This goes beyond words, this is evil at its worst." Cecilia said, "Even the Bacterians wouldn't go this far."

"What would they do?" Meia asked reluctantly.

"They'd kill all the people first before even infecting the planet." Cecilia answered, "Compared to this that'll be much more merciful and this is coming from someone who hates those monsters."

"How could anyone do something like this?" Barnette asked aghast after the sight of the people living in this wasteland.

"Bastards with the power and resources to pull it off and know that the people who live here can't do jack squat about it." Seth answered, "And I hate to say it but the Bacterians would be much more merciful than this."

"Good thing we have an operation in mind to at least help." Cecilia remarked, "Hopefully Parfet's idea can at least give these people hope for a future."

The operation Cecilia mentioned involved a device Parfet and another engineer were setting that would hopefully purify the diseased surface of the planet. Meanwhile Vandread Jura was hovering just inside the planet's atmosphere using its shields to cover the planet.

"It's an ambitious plan for sure but it's the best we got right now." Seth said.

"Hey! We're about to start the operation you guys." Annette called over to them.

"We'll be right with you." Seth replied.

"You're right. It's all we've got." Cecilia remarked looking back out at the wasteland before them.

"I should return to the Nirvana to help oversee the operation." Meia said turning back to Seth and Cecilia.

"Roger that." Cecilia acknowledged before going to the village below where the operation was to occur.

Meia left to return to the Nirvana leaving Barnette with Seth. "So how are you holding up?" She asked moving beside the Gradian.

"No different than usual." Seth replied, staring out at the empty wasteland. "You?"

Barnette sighed as she looked back at the small village below them, "I'm a little shocked right now. You however seem to be calm considering the situation." 'Idiot. I was asking about yourself.'

"That's because I'm trying not to think about it. If I do I'll be going ballistic at every single atrocity the fuckers from Earth have committed so far." Seth explained, "And with my condition that'll be hazardous for my health."

"No kidding." Barnette chuckled before turning serious again, "Still. These people did nothing to deserve this."

"Which is exactly why we're doing something about this." Seth said.

The two returned to the village below them to assist Duero and the ground teams in aiding the residents as best they could. When the Nirvana landed on this planet each of the crew members were given a special shot to protect them against the disease of the planet so at least they could avoid contracting the disease themselves.

Seth and Barnette soon spotted Parfet, Cecilia and the machine the head engineer had set up, Seth looked up at it and asked, "Any luck?"

Parfet sighed, "Not much I'm afraid. It looks like we're going to have to terraform this world from scratch."

"Something we don't really have time for." Cecilia said with Barnette nodding in agreement.

"Exactly. With the Harvester forces on their way to Tarak and Mejere we really can't afford too many detours." Seth stated.

Parfet sighed again, "I know that which is why this plan has to work." She then contacted Vandread Jura as it held the planet within its shield, "Alright you two get ready we're going to run another test."

"You got it." Hibiki responded back.

Monica showed up and knelt down next to Parfet, "Here I'll help." She said grabbing some tools and assisting Parfet and Cecilia with the machine.

Seth and Barnette continued on to the main tent, meeting Gascogne and Lisa at the doorway. The four of them were listening to Bart telling a fake story of how he saved the Nirvana to a girl named Shirley. She was an 11 year old girl who like everyone else was very sick, but her condition seemed to be worse than most of the others so Duero had her placed in the main tent so he could keep a closer watch on her condition.

Even though they all knew Bart's story wasn't true it made Shirley happy so none of them bothered to intervene.

Seth however could see that the sickly girl was just another dead person walking or resting in her bedridden case. Which pissed him off a lot but he kept calm.

Gascogne smirked as they listened to Bart's story, "When someone like him lies that audaciously I don't feel like scolding."

"For a whiner he sure can make someone happy." Lisa added.

"At least she'll be able to die happy." Seth said in a low voice.

"Do you have to be grim about it Seth?" Barnette chastised.

Seth sighed, "I'm just stating a fact. As much as I want her to live I don't see that happening."

"I hate to say it but I agree. The same goes for everyone else who'd been living in this hellhole for who knows how long." Gascogne added.

"Hopefully Parfet's machine will change that." Barnette said.

"On that we agree." Seth remarked.

...

On the Nirvana Meia who was watching along with Dita, Misty and BC was concerned with their health they had been shielding the entire planet for almost an entire day now and even though Hibiki wouldn't show it he was definitely reaching his breaking point.

"Do you think they'll be ok?" Meia asked the sub-commander, "They've been holding the planet for a long time."

Making a casual glance at the dread leader BC replied, "Parfet says it all depends on their will power as well as the condition of the Peksis."

"The Peksis...I just wonder what kind of substance it really is."

"I know what you mean. At first I thought of the Peksis only as an ideal energy source, but now…it's almost as if it's alive."

...

Back on the planet Seth and Barnette walked around the village. Internally, he was seething in rage at what he'd been seeing and was trying his best to stay calm. Earth was really pissing him off more and more and it was making the Gradian want to go on a rampage and destroy everything related to that planet. Of course he knew that would be foolhardy. Barnette knew that something was bugging the Gradian and that worried her.

"I can tell that something's on your mind Seth." She said getting the Gradian's attention.

"What makes you think so?" Seth asked in fake ignorance.

"You're clearly angst. Even with your poker face on I can tell that something's bothering you." Barnette stated.

Looking straight up into the gloomy grey sky Seth took a deep breath. "If you think it's to do with what's going on here then no because I've seen worse, but something else about this is bothering me." He said in a grim voice.

"Hey! You're not alone remember." Barnette told him "You've got me and the rest of the Nirvana with you."

"Thanks for the reminder Barnette." Seth smirked a little before getting serious once more, "But what's going on here feels more like a field experiment for those monsters from Earth. Using the data from this to develop something worse and on a larger scale. But it's nothing compared to the bad feeling I have that both our enemies would somehow come to an alliance and come after us. Sure the Bacterians claim to be Earth's enemies but they both have a common enemy which is us just as much as we and Bacterians do with Earth."

"That does sound like a scary prospect." Barnette remarked, "However, we have to worry about what's going on now and that is helping this planet."

"Yes, you're right. We have to help give these people here a future to look forward to." Seth said.

Hopefully this operation will be successful. No, it has to be successful.

"Hello."

"Huh?" Seth and Barnette turned to the person who greeted them. It was a young woman who had a bulge in her tummy which the Gradian easily recognized as her child. "Oh hello. Do you need something?" He asked.

"No. Just wanted to state that you two are a lovely couple." The woman said happily, "I can't help but envy how close you both are."

Seth and Barnette both noticed how close they were and immediately turned red and separated.

Barnette began waving her hands hysterically, "H-Hey! I-It's not what you think!"

Seth cleared his throat, "Y-Yeah. We're just good friends."

The woman giggled at their reactions. "Sure. Sure. I'll take your word for it, though I recommend that you grasp the moment before it's lost." Her tone then turned sad, "You know you two remind me of myself and my lover before he...passed on."

That statement made Seth and Barnette's mood go sour.

"Sorry for your loss." Seth said.

"No need to apologize. I brought it up after all." The woman waved him off. "Anyways I want to say I appreciate what you people are doing for us."

"No one deserves to be put through this hell." Seth stated.

"Agreed. It's only right that we help." Barnette added.

"Well thank you..." The woman said before she suddenly collapsed, fortunately Seth was fast enough to catch her.

"We have to get her Duero fast!" Barnette exclaimed.

Seth wasted no time carrying the unconscious woman in a bridal carry before both him and Barnette went towards the main tent.

...

Shirley notices Bart arriving in her room before hiding something underneath the covers.

The helmsman playfully glared at her, "Shirley, were you trying to hide something?"

The girl giggled, "No, I wasn't. How are you?"

Bart walked up to her bedside, "You don't have to be so formal with me. We're good friends now, aren't we?"

"I guess you're right. Don't laugh at what I'm about to show you, okay?" Shirley replied. She then pulled the covers down to reveal a doll of the helmsman, "I made a doll of you. I'm not very good at making one so I was embarrassed to show you. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I do." Bart replied, "But you know, he doesn't have any hair on his head."

Shirley smiled, "Don't worry about it, I plan to sew it on later."

The blonde-haired Tarak chuckled, "Just make sure that you make it as handsome as the real me, okay? If you do that I'll make it up to you by granting any wish you want. How does that sound?"

The bedridden girl beamed, "Really?"

Bart nodded with a mock bow, "Yep, anything you want. All you have to do is ask and I, your humble servant Bart will make it come true. Go ahead!"

Shirley stared out the window, "Let me think...You know, sometimes I wish I could climb to the top of that dome. I wanna go outside even if it's just once and see as far as I can. Unfortunately, the only thing I can see from this window is a really sad gray sky."

"Alright, your wish shall be granted but you first, you need to promise me that you'll get better no matter how hard it is." Bart said.

Suddenly Shirley starts coughing, prompting Bart to call Duero in. He hooks her up to a life support machine.

"The patient's stabilized for now." The doctor said.

"What do you mean for now?" Bart demanded with a glare.

"It means that she is far from being 100% healed. I may be able to prolong her life but the fact remains that her body has been contaminated at birth." Duero explained.

"Then use my body to help her, take any organ you want. If that's what you need..." Bart begged.

Duero cut him off, "Bart, stop! It's not that kind of problem. Please understand."

Before the helmsman could argue Barnette rushed into the infirmary, "Doctor, we have an emergency!"

"What's wrong?" Duero asked.

Seth and Gascogne come in with the unconscious woman him and Barnette were talking with earlier.

"We were talking with this woman but then she suddenly collapsed." Seth answered, "And from what I could see she's going into labor." Duero's eyes widened.

"Get her on the examination table!" He ordered. While they did that he rolled up his sleeves. After a brief check of the unconscious woman he says, "You're right. It's almost time."

Gascogne gritted her teeth, "It doesn't matter. Everyone here is sick."

Seth glared at Gascogne, "Sure as hell doesn't mean we do nothing!"

"I'm not saying that we leave them alone! It's just that unless we deal with the disease here there'll be no point since the child will just get sick when it's born."

"You're correct about that and fortunately I've actually come up with a theory about the disease. If they can avoid contracting it at birth then they should be able to prevent catching it for the rest of their lives." The doctor explained.

Seth and Barnette immediately rushed outside to where Parfet, Cecilia, Monica and the machine.

"Please tell me you got some good news." Seth said.

Cecilia sighed in annoyance. "I wish we did."

"Unfortunately, this is too much for us." Parfet sighed, "We are trying to change an entire planet after all."

Monica scoffed, "If it was that easy then any random person could do it."

"I guess you're right." The engineer sighed.

"Well forget about purifying the planet. How about you just quarantine the tent now?" Seth said.

Parfet titled her head, "Why do you wanna do that?"

"There's a baby about to be born!" Barnette replied, "Duero theorized that if we can stop it from getting the disease at birth it won't catch it at all."

"Meaning all we have to do is give the baby a clean environment to be born in." Seth said.

"Well it's now or never then. We only got one shot at this." Cecilia said.

"But we don't enough Peksis!" Pyoro pointed out.

"Then we'll use of what we have!" Parfet exclaimed, "Alright, ladies! Let's get to work right away!"

...

Inside Vandread Jura's cockpit, Hibiki nearly fell out of his seat in fatigue.

"I can't take much more of this." He groaned before suddenly feeling Jura's breasts land on his head and he sat right up pushing them away. "What do you think you're doing?" He yelled.

"I'm just so exhausted!" Jura groaned.

Suddenly the Vandread's radar pops up and shows them enemy signatures closing fast, when they come within visual range the two pilots gain a panicked look on their faces.

"The enemy! They're finally here!" Hibiki gasped.

"Perfect timing as usual." Jura cried in annoyance. They are ordered to hold their position much to Hibiki's protest while the others take off to engage the incoming threat.

...

Back on the planet the pilots hear the orders and waste no time getting back to the shuttles.

"Cecilia, you take command of G Team since I'm still not able to join you." Seth ordered, "If the Bacterians show up, they are your priority."

"Got it Seth!" Cecilia acknowledged before rushing to the shuttle along with Annette, Monica and Lisa.

Seth and Gascogne return to the tent where they find a depressed Bart still watching the sick Shirley.

"Bart, the enemy is here let's go." Gascogne informed. Seeing the depressed look on the helmsman's face the Reg leader continued, "I understand how much you want to stay here with her but without you, the ship doesn't go anywhere."

"Shirley." Bart whispered.

Seth immediately grabbed the blond Tarakan, turned him around and looked him in the eyes.

"You want to protect her right?" Seth asked him in a commanding tone. Seeing him nod Seth said, "Then quit moping and get up there in the Nirvana and helm the ship. Plus, as a bonus you can take out your anger on the assholes up there since it's thanks to them Shirley's in this state."

Bart looked back at the Gradian with fire in his eyes and nodded, "Yes! I'm going to protect her no matter what!"

"Good! Now go and whoop their asses! I'll stay and keep watch of her okay?" Seth said releasing Bart with the helmsman wasting no time leaving for the shuttle.

Seth gritted his teeth, "Tch. Wish I could be up there too. I'd love nothing more than to send some of those bastards to hell."

Gascogne patted the Gradian on the shoulder, "Well then we'll be sure to take out some for you." She said with a smirk before leaving.

...

Out in space the harvest ship began spewing out cube-types. At the same time the Dread teams along with Lord British came out to meet them.

"Dita until Barnette gets back I want you to oversee operations for the B team." Meia ordered.

Cecilia immediately issued orders as she flew far ahead of the dread teams. "G-Team, disperse and engage at will don't let a single one of those bastards gets through understood?"

"Roger!" The other pilots of the team acknowledged.

The battle was on the way with both sides on the attack.

"The enemy's main unit is advancing on Vandread Jura!" Celtic announced, "They can't defend themselves while they're positioned over the planet."

"Hey! A little help here would be great!" Hibiki yelled.

The enemy main unit approached the Vandread and opened its mouth intending on swallowing the Vandread and its shield.

"Not so fast asshole!" Cecilia yelled as she along with Barnette and Gascogne attacked the enemy ship stopping its advance. In response the enemy ship halted its advance and released a swarm of cube types to engage the defending pilots.

"Bring it on!" Cecilia yelled back as she activated the Options and began firing shooting down the enemy units.

...

Back on the planet Seth stayed bedside with Shirley assisting her with the Bart doll.

"That's a nice doll you made." He complimented.

"T-Thank you." The sickly girl said weakly, "I w-want to thank him for making me happy." She began coughing.

"Hold on! Bart's up there fighting for you." Seth helped to comfort her.

"I know and I'm trying." Shirley said as she struggled to continue with the doll.

Unable to stand it any longer Seth decided to do something drastic. "Hey Shirley. I know a way to help you."

The girl looked at him in surprise. "R-Really? You can? How?"

"It's a special gift of mine...I can get rid of your illness." He answered making her eyes widen, "However...it comes with a price. One that I'll have to pay." That made her gasp.

...

Back in space the battle was still raging on. Soon the enemy decided to turn their attention to the Nirvana firing at the ship's shield, but the ship didn't move, "I'll protect her" Bart's voice said, "I'm not going to let those bastards get any closer. I'm not moving no matter what happens I'm not going to give an inch!"

The helmsman clenched his fist as he watched the monitors showing him the battle. "For all you care we're nothing at all, but these people they're trying their best to live their lives to the fullest. Shirley I won't give up so...so you can't give up either OK. Don't give up…You hear me Shirley I will never let those things get you!"

The Nirvana's armor began breaking away as the ship began changing, parts of it seemed to be opening, various parts of the ship were sliding around and extending as multiple silo looking ports were being revealed under the armor. "Get away from this planet!" Bart yelled before the newly reveled silos fired a massive barrage of lasers toward the enemy.

"Oi! Watch where you're aiming at!" Monica yelled before the lasers began arcing around the friendly ships and homing in on the enemy and decimating the opposition.

"Has the Nirvana had that kind of power all this time?" Cecilia muttered in awe after seeing the lasers batter the enemy main unit sending it into its death throes. Everyone else too was in awe from the new power the Nirvana possessed. And of all people it was Bart that invoked it; the entire enemy fleet was wiped out just like that.

...

With the battle over good news came as Parfet had successfully a quarantine zone for the baby to be born on the planet and said newborn arrived completely healthy and free from any contamination.

Unfortunately for Bart there was bad news. When he returned to the planet's surface and rushed to tell Shirley the good news, first he saw Seth outside the tent but the Gradian refused to face him.

"Hey Seth. Weren't you with Shirley?" He asked. All he got was the Gradian walking to him and placing the doll Shirley had made into his hand.

"She told me to give it to you." Seth said before walking away.

That made the blond helmsman rush into the tent but once inside he froze when he saw Duero unplugging the machine that monitored Shirley's condition.

"Hey doc." Bart said quietly "What are you doing?"

Duero lowered his head as he looked at the helmsman "I'm sorry Bart. She hung on as long as she could."

Suddenly as if he was drunk Bart stumbled over to the bedside and gently nudged Shirley with his hands telling her to wake up, but she remained motionless. Duero placed his hand on Bart's shoulder and apologized once more before leaving.

 **...**

Outside the village leader thanked Magno and Parfet for what they've done, but Parfet didn't feel the same sense of victory that they had.

"I'm sorry." Parfet said, "What I really wanted to do was purify the whole planet, but this was all we could do I'm afraid."

"No." The village leader said, "You've done much more than you realize. You've given us hope. This small space may not look like much to you, but to us it is a true light a hope in a future to save our future children from the disease of this world."

The old man smiled as he turned to Parfet "With this new hope there is a chance that our future generations will be able to heal this world or even find their way to a new one without disease and it is for that, that I thank you."

With their work done the crew of the Nirvana was getting ready to leave, Bart was sitting alone on a stone outside the village holding the doll Shirley made in his hand, staring mindlessly at it. Cecilia and Magno approached him.

"Bart. We've got to go." Cecilia said.

Magno walked over to console Bart saying, "Is this the first time that someone you cared for passed away? I know how you feel. It's pretty hard when it happens. Your head's full of regrets. The important thing is that you keep those memories, hold them dear and never let go." After saying that she turned and said, "Take your time young man."

Bart did just that and let it all out.

Soon everyone was back in the Nirvana. The crew prepares for departure when they hear the door slide open and in comes Bart with his newly shaved head. He shaved it in memory of Shirley trying to finish the doll and wears it around his neck. He quietly enters the helm ready to steer the Nirvana.

...

Barnette sat alone on a bench in the garden sector deep in thought about what the new mother back on the planet said to her and Seth.

"You seem troubled Barnette." Magno said approaching her.

"Oh captain." Barnette said standing up suddenly, "I was just…"

The captain smiled and sat on the bench, "Its ok child you can talk to me."

Barnette sat back down. "It's about Seth captain…"

"Oh?" Magno replied, "What about him?"

"Back on that planet Seth and I met the woman who gave birth before she went into labor. She commented about us being a couple and how we resembled her and her deceased husband. Even before then I-I'd been dreaming about Seth when I sleep and think about him a lot when awake…and when I'm near him my heart starts racing, my face becomes hot and sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating. Even down there when we were with that woman all that happened again."

"Oh is that all?" The captain asked in what sounded like a teasing tone "That's nothing to worry about at all Barnette, it just means you're in love."

"In love?" Barnette gasped, almost yelling.

Magno smiled at her, "Of course child I had already noticed. A part of me was hoping for this to happen. You to pursue those feelings so that you could have someone close and important to you. Having someone to love is one of the greatest joys any person can ever experience. I'm hoping the same for Seth too as he has those same feelings for you."

"But Captain…" Barnette said awkwardly "Seth is a man, not to mention a Gradian."

"And has that stopped you from hanging around him?" Magno replied, "Even before those feelings started developing inside you, you didn't care that he was a man. You came to trust him and realized what an irreplaceable ally he is to us."

Barnette lowered her head a little, "That's true, but…is it even possible?"

"For a man and woman to be together? Yes, it's possible dear." Magno answered, "In fact it's actually the way things were intended to be in the first place before the two sexes separated from one another, but that's a story for another time."

Barnette then added, "Captain...before she fainted the woman told us to _grasp the moment before it's lost._ "

Magno slowly got up and looked back at Barnette. "Well then what are you sitting here waiting for?

That surprised Barnette.

Magno continued, "The woman definitely saw what I and maybe others had seen and I say I agree with her. Don't wait too long." With that the captain began walking away, "Also Seth needs this too as his heart's been broken already and you're the one who can mend it and save him too."

Barnette still on the bench looked up at the stars, her knees curled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. The captain's words replaying in her head.

"Does Seth really feel the same way about me?" She asked herself, "The captain said it was possible, but…can a man and woman really live together?"

 **...**

Seth walked down the hallway deep in thought due to what happened down on that planet.

He wanted to save Shirley and was willing to take a huge risk to do so, unfortunately the sickly girl turned him down as she didn't want Seth to suffer in her place just to make Bart happy as she felt that it would only make Bart unhappy at the end. The fact that she was prepared for her end even when she had a chance to be saved was what hit him. He had a chance to save her but she turned it down to keep Bart from being even sadder. Even though it wasn't his fault he still added that to the long list of deaths he kept with him.

But that wasn't the only thing on the Gradian's mind. What the new mother back on the planet had told him and Barnette was also on his mind.

 _"I recommend that you grasp the moment before it's lost."_

He found himself debating on whether or not they should heed that advice or not.

Finding himself in front of Reg Central, Seth walked inside where he was greeted by Gascogne who was finishing checking the inventory.

"Hey Seth. What brings you here?" The tall woman greeted.

"Been thinking about something since we left that planet after the madness we dealt with." Seth responded as he sat in front of Gascogne's desk.

"Oh?" Gascogne got interested, "What is it that's got you thinking?"

"The woman that gave birth on that planet." Seth began, "Before she fainted she talked with me and Barnette. She commented about me and Barnette as a couple and how we reminded her of herself and her deceased husband. It got me thinking."

Gascogne smirked as she sat down too, "About admitting your feelings for Barnette?"

"Y-Yeah..." Seth said nervously, "But I'm..."

"Scared of being betrayed again?" Gascogne finished again.

"Yeah. That woman had told me and Barnette to _grasp the moment before it's lost_ but I'm not sure if I want to go through with all that."

"That Kara's a fool." Gascogne snarled, "Leaving you for a traitorous scumbag. Throwing everything away to just sleep with him." She then smirked, "Fortunately Barnette will never do such a thing. The girl's loyal to a fault and if you two got together she'll stick with you to the end."

Seth hummed at that.

"And here's my question for you..." Gascogne said and before suddenly smacking Seth at the back of his head.

"Ow!" Seth yelped, "What was that for?!"

"What the hell are you waiting for?!" Gascogne asked loudly.

"Huh?!" Seth exclaimed dumbfounded.

Gascogne continued, "Like that woman said you two have something great going on and in agreement with her, you two should be grasping it before it's too late. So quit dawdling and go for it!"

Seth sat there dumbfounded in front of Gascogne, both silent for a minute. Then Seth began chuckling before bursting into hysterical laughter which brought a smile on the older woman's face.

"Y-You're right. Why am I too busy worrying and dawdling?" Seth said after managing to stop laughing. "Never laughed like that in a while. Thanks for that Gascogne."

"You're welcome Seth. Just don't screw things up with Barnette alright?" Gascogne said.

"Of course I won't. I'm in love with her after all." Seth said as he got up, "Once again thanks for talking with me." He then left Reg Central leaving the leader behind.

' _About damn time!"_ Gascogne sighed, _"I was gonna have to beat his head in if he kept stalling. Those two need this."_

 **...**

Arriving at his room Seth noticed that the door was opened slightly and gently pushed it as he stepped through immediately resting his eyes on Barnette who was sitting on his bed.

"Sorry." The green haired pilot said, "I figured I'd wait for you to get back."

"Don't worry about it." Seth replied in a cheeky tone, "I was about to look for you anyway. This just makes things easier."

"Smart ass." Barnette said looking away from the Gradian with Seth looking at the floor. The two stayed silent for a couple of minutes before Seth decided to break that silence.

Opening his mouth to speak, he stopped when he saw Barnette jump up from the bed and rush over to him.

Taken by surprise Seth gave a silent grunt as the green haired, violet eyed beauty crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him, in a tight embrace.

"I love you!" Barnette cried just loud enough for him to hear.

Seth smiled and responded by hugging her back and kissing her on the forehead.

"Love you too." He said warmly.

* * *

 **Chapter IV End.**

 **Ain't that a way to end the chapter?!**

 **Seth finally gets into a relationship again and with someone he can trust to not betray him. Hopefully it lasts.**


	5. Aggressive Negotiations

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Stage**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter V: Aggressive Negotiations**

* * *

Seth woke up from sleep refreshed and feeling great.

Maybe it has to do with him and his girlfriend Barnette finally admitting their feelings for each other a few nights ago. Initially it was a bit of an adjustment for the Gradian due to the betrayal from his first girlfriend, however Gascogne's words had helped Seth to embrace this new relationship and his new girlfriend.

Barnette was not Kara after all.

Still a certain best friend of Barnette confronted him about their relationship.

 _Flashback_

 _Seth looked on impassively at a serious looking Jura as they both stood in the garden sector while Barnette stayed by his side._

" _You have a problem with me and Barnette being together?" Seth asked._

" _No, not really." Jura answered, "I just want to know if your love for each other is genuine."_

" _Of course it is Jura! What makes you think that?!" Barnette exclaimed._

 _Jura put her hands up defensively. "Barnette, I believe that you love Seth. I just want to know if he really feels the same way about you."_

 _Barnette felt Seth's arm tighten around her waist and his anger too, not to mention she saw his hand twitching ready to draw his gun. She prepared to stop him if things went south._

" _Do you have a death wish Jura?" Seth asked coldly. "Are you questioning my love for Barnette? Calling me a liar?!"_

 _Jura instead smiled, satisfied by his reaction. "Nope, and by your reaction I'm glad to know that your love is genuine." She then got serious, "However...if you hurt Barnette in anyway then there'll be hell to pay, Gradian or not."_

 _Seth eased up and smirked in response, "Then I have nothing to worry about."_

 _End Flashback_

Shifting in bed Seth felt a weight on his chest and looked down smiling gently at Barnette's sleeping form. Once again he found himself admiring his Mejerian girlfriend, something he never thought would happen at all since the two were at odds earlier.

Barnette groaned as she felt her Gradian boyfriend stir before rubbing her eyes and looking up at his smiling face. She too never thought that she'd be in a romantic relationship with a man, let alone a Gradian and well here she is now.

"Morning Seth. Slept well?" She asked.

"Very well." Seth replied, "You?"

"Same here." Barnette said, latching tightly as she rubbed her head on Seth's chest. Seth just gently stroked her hair as she purred happily at the contact and he maintained his smile.

After five more minutes Seth chuckled and said, "As much as I'd love to stay like this, we're both needed in the ship."

"Yeah, I know." Barnette pouted as she released him and the couple rose from the bed and shared a kiss before Seth got his shirt and left for his room while Barnette went to the bathroom to freshen up.

 **...**

The Nirvana was currently approaching an unknown station that was somewhat similar to the very space station they had first encountered Rabat. However, this one seems to be rather different in design which Magno identified it as an Outpost Mission, some sort of resting station as well as a trading center.

As soon as they were able to get within communication range, they got greeted by a bald man with gloves and wearing black colored clothing as well as a belt carrying pouches, the man was built like a bear and he had the naturally had the attitude of one as well.

"Who the heck is this? I can't believe someone's still using that old Colony signal!"

Buzam was the one who began to speak about their desire to trade. The crew had begun to run a bit low on some food supplies and needed to replenish, and they had plenty of things to trade.

"You want to trade for supplies?! Hahahahahaha! I hate to break it to you ladies, but we're kind of short on that ourselves and we're not a hotel either, so why don't you find someone else to barter with?!" The bear of a man responded quickly.

"We only need some types of supplies while we have a considerable amount of materials to trade." Buzam replied, not phased in the slightest.

The man responded, "And what sort of supplies are we talking about here that you're willing to trade lady?"

Magno allowed the data of what they were willing to trade to be transferred to the man and as soon as he got the data and looked at it, he gave a very shocked look and then he faced Buzam with a serious stare.

"That's QUITE an offer, how can we be sure that you're not lying to us?" He asked.

"The only way you will find out is if you let us onboard the station and I talk to the leader then and see if we got a deal. So, is that offer of spare supplies enough to open negotiations?" Buzam replied.

The bald man looked at the side, apparently getting orders from something outside of the monitor's visual range. After a minute or two the man faced Buzam. "The rule here in Delta Six is eat or be eaten, if you don't care about what happens to you once you're on this station then feel free to come onboard." He spoke and ended the transmission.

With that done, the crew knew that they were going to be allowed onboard the station.

"Quite the charming fellow that guy is." Cecilia said sarcastically, "He must be living the high life if he's like that."

The women laughed a bit and even Buzam managed to chuckle as well as Magno. As soon as the humor winded down, the Nirvana got closer to the station in which they got the transmission with Cecilia commenting.

"Wow. I'm a little surprised that it's still in good shape."

The crew had to agree as the station was actually in decent shape. Even though there were signs of damage to it along with some breaches to some sections, which was a sign that the people there had been attacked multiple times, they'd still done a decent job of fixing the damage and maintaining the place. The defense weapons were still functioning though barely and the radar system while functioning still had some blind spots which the defense weapons covered for. But the most significant thing was that the station was operating in low power.

Magno spoke in agreement, "That's true but even so there's still a good chance the people there are rather hostile towards outsiders. Unfortunately, we don't have much in terms of choice at the moment, we need supplies and we can trade off the stuff that we can afford to give away. Anyways someone get our Gradian ace here."

"I'm already here." Seth said as he entered the bridge while startling everyone else present but BC and Cecilia.

"Nice entrance." Cecilia said.

Seth ignored her to focus on Magno. "What do you need me for Captain?"

"Ah yes Seth. I'll need you to be part of the negotiation team that'll be going into that station." Magno informed the pilot whom looked at the station in question. "We'll be attempting to trade with the people there and there's a good chance the people there will be hostile towards us outsiders."

"Sure, and if that happens then aggressive negotiations will be necessary." Seth said blankly.

Magno sweat dropped at the blank response. "Well hopefully it doesn't come to that young man."

 **...**

While the Nirvana moved in to dock at the station the negotiating party gathered at the Shuttle Launching Bay.

Barnette took out a sack that contained her favorite rifles as well as a gun case with also Jura and Parfait on the scene, Jura never got around to figuring out just what was it about old fashioned projectile weapons that got Barnette's interest as she always collected those weapons, cleaned them meticulously, and always treated them like precious items.

"Why are you carrying all that Barnette?" Jura asked.

"Hey, we're going to be in some close quarters fighting and if that happens, these will be worth using." Barnette answered with a smile.

Buzam, Seth and Cecilia arrived on the scene. The Gradian had already told the other members of G-Team to be on standby in case the enemy showed up which was very likely due to their track record. Buzam then stated that they were there on a diplomatic action and combat was to be avoided at all costs, which disappointed Barnette as she was hoping to finally get her guns to be into the heat of things. Seth just scoffed at her telling her that not all things go according to plan and that there are times when aggressive negotiation is necessary. It was then that the Gradian and Latisian looked at Barnette's gun collection with the Latisian whistling in amazement.

"Wow. Someone's ready for a firefight." Cecilia said.

"It's called being ready for anything and my girlfriend takes that to heart." Seth said walking to the blushing Barnette and putting a hand around her waist.

"Well I'm just surprised she has these guns in her collection considering the preferences to lasers on her world." Cecilia remarked.

"Well I wanted to stand out a lot from the norm, besides; there will most likely be close quarters fighting involved so no sense not having weapons made for this, even if we're not supposed to do any fighting if we can avoid it." Barnette said smugly.

"And I agree with you wholeheartedly." Seth said as he pulled out his Glock 17 and checked the clip, "If there's one thing from Gradius that I'm glad I learnt it's to be ready for anything."

Jura shook her head in amusement, "These two were definitely made for each other."

"I second that Jura." Cecilia said, "I'm surprised that you approved of Barnette being with Seth."

"I had a feeling that they'd become a couple." Jura stated, "The signs were there with both blushing whenever they were around each other though Seth did a better job of hiding it than Barnette. All they needed was a push to get them rolling. I would have done that myself but the captain and Gasco beat me to it. Not to mention when I talked to him I immediately knew that I had nothing to worry about. Besides the two are adults and can make their own decisions, no need to butt in." She then frowned, "However there's Seth's traitorous ex that I'm worried about."

Cecilia nodded. "Kara. Yeah, she still thinks that she can get back together with Seth even though he made it clear that he wants nothing to do with her and she'd most likely do something drastic if she sees Barnette with him."

Jura growled, "I'll slice her to ribbons if she tries anything."

"Seth would most likely beat you to it and kill her first. If not him then I will do the deed." Cecilia said.

"Glad to see that you both are looking out for your friends." Gascogne said as she joined them.

"Well they both deserve to be happy after all." Cecilia said.

"I'm more surprised that you're not bothered by Seth being with Barnette, not to mention someone from the same planet that took his adopted parents from him." Gascogne continued.

"It's Seth's choice, not mine who he falls in love with." Cecilia replied.

"Especially when you had feelings for him too?" Gascogne added suspiciously, surprising Jura, "I mean you two are pretty close."

"Is that true?" Jura asked Cecilia.

"At some point I did." Cecilia replied, "However it was only because Seth reminded me of my fiancé and also I could see that Barnette already had the advantage of being with him more, and unlike Kara I know when to concede and settle for being a good friend he can trust and rely on."

 **...**

When the Nirvana negotiation team docked with the station Seth immediately stepped off the ship once it docked walking over to the hangar door with his Glock 17 out while the rest of his allies were preparing.

"Hold up." Barnette yelled to him as she too joined him at the hangar door. She switched off the safety to her own handgun and stood on the other side of the door.

"You read my mind Barnette." Seth said before he opened the door to the station and they both moved in aiming their weapons at those waiting on the other side and drawing attention of the people there.

"Put those away before you start something." A familiar face, Hana, Miranda's assistant said to them as she walked up with a security escort behind her. "Still never expected you and the Nirvana crew to show up here Seth."

"I didn't think you guys would end up here either." Seth replied with equal surprise, "So you're the welcoming party?"

"Yeah. Miranda sent me here along with a few familiar faces to escort you." Hana answered as the security with her nodded at Seth in recognition, "As you can see not everyone's in a good mood."

"I take it that it has to do with Harvester attacks from earlier." Buzam said.

Hana nodded, "Pretty much. Even with us able to fix the damage, it's straining on our resources. Hopefully you have something that'll help alleviate the issue."

"We're in a similar spot too and also hoping that what we have will help too." Gascogne said.

"Hopefully we'll be able to help each other." Hana said.

As the negotiation group was escorted the men of Delta Six were whistling and making rude derogatory remarks towards Buzam, Gascogne, Barnette, Jura, Dita, Parfet and Cecilia while the women either ignored them or kept their children away from them, the only reason they weren't trying anything being because of Hana and the security escort. The negotiation group either ignored or glared back at the hostile people. However the hostility died quickly when Seth had enough of their hostility and glared at them, the people instantly recognizing the Gradian and choosing to behave.

"Looks like your reputation precedes you Seth." Jura said as she saw the people back down.

"I've been around." Seth said, "And people know that I'm not someone to mess with. Especially when I'm in a bad mood."

"It also helps that Miranda's one of the people in charge here." Hana stated.

"That's good to hear. But who else's in charge?" Buzam asked.

"A woman named Liz. A fiery woman in her own right." Hana answered.

"I'm surprised that she agreed to share the leadership role with Miranda." Seth remarked.

"She reluctantly agreed to due to Miranda being 'convincing'." Hana stated.

"Miranda does have that effect on people after all." Cecilia added.

As they reached the rise, the same man who had talked to them earlier looked at them with a scowl on his face though that look soon turned to surprise when he saw Seth.

"Never thought I'd see your ugly mug again Reager." The bald man said grumpily.

"At least mine's not uglier than yours Patch." The Gradian remarked.

"You know him Seth?" Barnette asked.

"Patch and I here had a brawl when we met at a bar and I wiped the floor with his ugly mug." Seth answered with a smug grin on his face making Barnette giggle at that.

Patch glared at the Gradian before shaking his head.

"This way." He said as he led them into the next room.

 **...**

When they arrived inside the room, the party were quick to find themselves in something that resembled an underground arena of sorts. There was a large crowd of people around the arena separated from them by a tall chain linked fence all of them cheering wildly.

A spotlight shined down on a staircase at the other side of the arena at the top was a woman who wore a tight fitting body suit and had deep purple hair, and a figure most men would love to get their hands on, she was beautiful by most standards and certainly athletic. The woman looked at them and decided to speak.

"Well we certainly have a rambunctious group don't we?" She asked.

"I take it you're one of the two in charge here?" BC asked the woman.

"Miranda dealing with some things so you'll be dealing with me now. Name's Liz by the way." The woman known as Liz said as Patch walked up beside her.

Seth sighed, "Thousand credits say we're going to have to fight our way out of here."

"I'm not making a bet I know I'm gonna lose." Cecilia deadpanned as she looked around the arena.

"So tell me where you all are from since you seem to be quite the varied bunch." Liz asked.

"Most of us come from Mejere, with a few others being from Tarak, Gradius and Latis." BC answered, "We've been on a long journey and are in need of supplies."

"So our guests come from behind the great magnetic storm no wonder you don't know how to talk." Liz said with her arrogant smirk present, "Though the fact that you have a Gradian and Latisian here surprises me especially considering your planets' history with each other.

"Things change. Anyways we have no intention on being a burden to you." BC said, "Patch told you about our deal right?"

Liz chuckled, "Yes he did and while it's great we are still short on one thing in particular...entertainment."

"I'm sure I don't understand what you mean." BC replied.

Seth growled before stepping forward, "She means a fucking fight." He looked up at Liz with a threatening gaze, "Look here Liz, we have bigger fish to fry than waste time with your bullshit. So I'll ask nicely, are we going to do business or not?"

Liz chuckled, "My! My! This one is certainly feisty."

A gunshot went off and Liz felt a cut on her cheek and noticed blood coming out. Everyone looked in shock at Seth who looked at Liz coldly with his Glock 17 out and smoking.

"No. I'm just someone who doesn't fuck around!" He said, "You want to trade or not? Just answer already and let us get this over with!"

BC and Cecilia face palmed and cursed as they saw things reaching the boiling point thanks to the Gradian's actions.

This time Liz didn't chuckle or laugh instead she stared at the Gradian just as surprised as everyone else. "You're an interesting one, Gradian." She finally said with a grin, "What's your name?"

"Seth Reager. So are you going to talk now?" The Gradian responded.

Liz's eyes widened, before smirking at him, "Tell you what Seth, if you can beat me in a fight then I'll give you what you want. How's that?"

"You know I could just put a bullet in your head and be done with it?" Seth deadpanned.

BC stepped forward to salvage the situation, "How about a match between representatives then? You against me."

Liz smirked again, "That's an acceptable idea. However, I want to fight the Gradian instead."

BC looked stunned at that, "What?"

"Is this woman serious?" Cecilia muttered in annoyance.

Seth shrugged, "Hey, you're the suicidal one so be my guest."

"Good! Any other weapon apart from projectiles are allowed, so you'll have to lose that pistol of yours." Liz said.

"I'll deal with this instead Seth." BC said about to step in but Seth puts his arm in front of her.

"I'm the one she picked a fight with. So I'll be the one to beat her ass." Seth stated before putting on the safety on his Glock and tossed it to Barnette who caught it. "Take care of that for me Barnette."

"Sure and you'd better take care of yourself too." Barnette replied.

"No problem." Seth moved forward and drawing out his kukri.

Liz jumped down to face the Gradian pulling out some kind of metal hilt and activated it, revealing it to be some kind of energy sword.

"Nice sword." Seth said sarcastically.

"Nice knife." Liz replied standing across from him, "Time to teach you some respect."

"Bring it on grandma." Seth replied while motioning for her to bring it.

BC and the others moved back from the two to avoid being caught in the crossfire. When they'd reached a safe distance Liz leapt into action, stabbing at Seth with her weapon only to have the Gradian dodge her attack easily. Liz regained her balance and tried slashing this time and once more got the same result. She kept on attacking but Seth just calmly dodged with deft footwork.

Liz was getting angry, she had expected this to be simple as she didn't think that a Gradian would be any good in a close quarters fight but this one was proving her wrong.

She missed once more and this time Seth capitalized and closed the gap and grabbed her wrist. He then stabbed the woman in the arm making her yelp in pain and lose her grip on her energy sword which then deactivated with him kicking the weapon away. Liz immediately kicks him away and clutches her wounded arm. She then pulled out a trio of throwing knives and tossed them at the Gradian. Seth easily deflected the projectiles with his kukri before rushing forward and kicking her in the stomach, knocking her away. Liz slid to a stop on her feet, throwing another trio of knives at Seth who once more knocked them out of the air with his weapon only to narrowly dodge a fourth one with it leaving a small cut on his cheek.

"Oh no Seth!" Dita cried after the knife missed the Gradian.

"Don't worry about Seth, Dita. He's got this." Hibiki said confidently.

Barnette however looked on at her boyfriend with slight worry as he barely registered the cut on his cheek before shaking off her anxiety. No way would he lose to this hussy!

Seth wiped some blood from the cut and licked it. "Is that all Grandma? I expected more from you." He taunted.

"Shut up!" Liz yelled while drawing another throwing knife but instead using it to cut off a part of her sleeve before tying it around her wound. She then held the knife in an inverted grip. "It's people with smug attitudes like you that piss me off the most."

"Sorry, but I'm confident, not smug. Big difference." Seth responded, "You however are a hypocrite."

Liz lunged in and attacked with a flurry of slashes and stabs which were either deflected or dodged by Seth.

BC sighed, "This fight's already over. I don't get why Seth's drawing it out."

Cecilia shrugged, "That's how Seth is when he wants to humiliate someone. If he was serious Liz would be a bloody mess by now."

"Well he's doing a good job of humiliating her." Gascogne said as Seth disarmed Liz of her knife and then kneed her in the liver before judo throwing her across the floor. While the woman was defenseless Seth casually walked towards his downed opponent, but suddenly a small wall erupted from the ground cutting him off. Scoffing at the blatant outside interference Seth pushed a button under his kukri which resulted in energy surrounding it, making it look like Liz's weapon before slicing the wall in half.

Liz got up and her once smug look was replaced by shock as she, Patch and the others in the audience were shocked at the sight of Seth slicing the wall in half with his own energy sword.

"You're not the only one with tricks of their own Liz." Seth said as he aimed his weapon right at her.

Patch was about to make a move once more but two shots to his arm and leg stopped him as Cecilia had spotted him and drew out her Auto Laser pistol before firing at him.

"Try that again and you'll be breathing from a hole in your head." She threatened.

The others tried to move to attack Cecilia but they were quickly greeted by the weapons of the Barnette and Hana along with the security escort.

"Alright that's enough." Hana said in a serious tone, "This fight's over with the winner being Seth Reager."

"Indeed it is." Said Miranda as she appeared beside Hana, "Though this outcome was to be expected Liz considering you had to go after my protégée."

Liz looked up at Miranda and asked, "What?! He's your protégée?!"

Miranda looked at Liz and replied, "Yes he is Liz and you just had to take him on and get your ass handed to you. Now let's get on with the negotiations."

"About time you showed up Miranda. I thought I'd have to kill her to get things moving along." Seth remarked making everyone sweat drop at him.

"Well I was busy dealing with something important that couldn't wait." Seth's sister figure said, "And now that it's been dealt with we can get the ball rolling."

 **...**

Negotiation was underway as BC spoke with Miranda and Hana about their offer while Liz sat at the bar drinking away.

Seth was standing in the hallway leading to the bar with Barnette by his side.

"It's a good thing that Miranda's here to make things easier." Barnette said, "I dunno how things would have turned out if she, Hana and the others weren't here."

"It would have been much more chaotic." Seth said, "And Liz would have died by my hands."

Barnette sighed, "That was unfortunately a possibility."

Seth sensed his girlfriend's unease and decided to get to the bottom of it. "Something worrying you Barnette?" He asked.

"Yeah...There's a lot on my mind you know. Like what we'll do when we reach Mejere and Tarak, or when the Gradius strike team shows up, we'll have to fight them as they'll be hell bent on getting you. Those two in particular are worrying me." Barnette admitted.

"Hey. I've got the Nirvana crew, Cecilia, Miranda and her people and you having my back so I'm not too worried right now. Just like you told me." Seth said, "So let's worry about those issues when they come into play. For now let's enjoy what's going on now-Excuse me."

Seth stopped whatever he was saying when he suddenly spotted someone that he easily recognized and that made him tense up and sheer hatred took over before quickly moving into action. This person was very much in need of his attention.

Barnette wondered what was going on as her boyfriend suddenly made his way to the direction of a certain table.

 **...**

The person Seth recognized was none other than Rabat himself, the traitorous bastard to the human race who was currently drinking some brandy and unaware of his impending demise.

The man had been surprised to see Miranda and the other people at her colony alive and well at Delta 5 but he chalked it up to them being lucky and didn't bother himself as his bosses were still going to do their thing at this station. It was just harder for him to sabotage the systems here as some of the colonists with Miranda had been able to fix whatever he did and the security had been upped. Still he managed to perform one more sabotage and after his drink here he'll be leaving this joint.

BANG! BANG!

Jolts of pain came all over Rabat as he fell over in agony. He saw a hole in his chest and blood gushing out of it. Blood was also coming out of his mouth and breathing was becoming difficult too. He then heard footsteps approaching him before he saw the last person he ever wanted to see standing above him with his smoking Glock 17 out.

Seth ignored the surprised BC, Miranda, Liz and everyone else in the bar as he focused on the now bloodied Rabat. Barnette came inside and was also shocked at what she too saw.

"Hello again dog shit or may I say goodbye? It doesn't matter since you're going to die." Seth said coldly, "The only reason you lived this long was because of Magno, however that's not gonna happen this time as her actions nearly cost Miranda and the others their lives. Well it ends today."

Seth then aimed the gun at Rabat's forehead. "So here's your express trip to hell, free of charge."

Rabat tried to say something to placate his executioner but all that came out was incoherent gurgling since he was choking on his own blood.

BANG!

Not like it mattered as the roar of the Glock 17 was heard in the bar and the round easily tore through skin and bone right through brain matter ending the traitor permanently.

"Oh while you're in hell say hello to Rugal for me." Seth spat.

Liz looked in horror at the sight of Rabat's head and took out her side arm and aimed it at the Seth as she and the others on her side grabbed their weapons, shocked by this action. Miranda and Hana too had her own guns out along with the rest of those in the bar while Barnette had her Beretta out and was by Seth's side.

"Why did you kill Rabat?!" Liz shouted in shock and anger.

"Rabat?! You mean that bastard's here?!" Miranda yelled. BC like her was also shocked and pissed by that too.

"Yes, he was here Miranda." Seth said as he holstered his pistol, "As for why I executed him Liz, it's because he was a traitorous piece of shit that helped the Harvesters begin their genocidal campaign on humanity. He betrayed fellow humans and left them to the inhuman actions of the Harvesters, it was he who told the Harvesters of your worlds. The fucker also tried to help them in their attack on our planet but that failed, but most of all I lost three years of my life thanks to him and his cohorts."

"What?!"

"We have a great deal of evidence that proves that Rabat is responsible for the success of the Harvesters as he was their spy, if you want proof, then you will have it." BC spoke up.

"I also have evidence of my own to corroborate that." Miranda said, "And since he was here, then he will have no doubt brought the fucking Harvesters along to finish the job." She added in realization. "Hana!"

"On it!" The assistant said as she rushed to inform everyone about the no doubt incoming attack.

This turn of events made Liz's head spin, she had just witnessed Rabat, who was something of a suitor executed by the Gradian and accused of being a traitor to the whole human race, and she wanted answers for this action.

"What's going on here?!"

While BC showed the evidence to her with Miranda adding her own to support it, Seth wasted no time contacting the Nirvana about the situation.

 **...**

The very second the news came in from Seth, Magno and the others in the bridge was immediately shocked.

"What?! Rabat is onboard?!"

"Yes but make that 'was' Captain as he's now a fucking corpse with a hole in the head." Seth replied, "And if he's here then the Harvesters will not be far behind, I suggest the Nirvana and the Dread Squadrons get ready as we'll be having company soon."

Magno then knew that if Rabat was around then the Harvesters were coming this way soon enough, she gave the order for all the Nirvana's forces to get ready, she then sighed at Seth killing Rabat, the idea of humans killing each other was not new to the elderly woman as she knew history to be filled with conflict between humans, she never liked it and that was why her crew had never killed any men from Tarak unless it was unavoidable, they had avoided that for some time now, but this was unexpected and it shocked the elderly woman that a human life was taken by another. It still sickened her to think of humans killing one another, but she knew that considering Rabat's crimes, it was something that would happen soon enough.

"I see…I might not like the idea of what you did Seth, but as much as I hate to admit it, that man had it coming. Anyways I want you all to be ready for the arrival of the Harvesters."

"Understood Captain, we'll be ready for those bastards."

 **...**

"I…I….can't believe it, Rabat sold us out?!" Liz said as she barely held the urge to puke. Not surprising considering the information she'd read a few minutes ago.

"Like you we had a hard time digesting the information when we first found it, but it is true….Rabat betrayed the human race to the Harvesters and he is no doubt responsible for all the people here in Delta Six, including you and your fellow survivor Patch, and Miranda and the other Gradians. Fortunately he's gone now." BC explained.

"And what was Seth's issue with Rabat?" Liz asked, still not able to get over the Gradian executing the traitorous bastard.

"Rabat screwed Seth over royally when he was still younger, framing him for causing the attack on planet Gradius which resulted in him being imprisoned and put up for execution." Cecilia explained.

Liz was even more shocked. She never knew that handsome Gradian had it that rough. "Damn...that sucks..."

"Yeah. It was only thanks to his parents and me that he avoided all that and was vindicated." Miranda spoke, "Seth's been chewing at the bits at his chance for payback ever since then and was not going to be denied."

"It doesn't mean it's over everyone. Since Rabat was here it's likely his masters aren't far behind." Cecilia said.

"You're damned right about that." Seth spoke up as he arrived back in the room wiping his hands of blood.

"Um Seth? Did something happen?" Hibiki asked.

"Just had to put down a certain traitor's pet." Seth responded coldly.

"Was that really necessary?" BC asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Seth replied. That's when an alarm started going off in the station, "Oh what do you know? They're finally here."

"Just when we manage to forget about them they come back again it's almost like their toying with us." Patch complained.

"Where's the safest place on the station?" Gascogne asked Patch.

"Uh that would be the central control room I guess." Patch replied.

BC wasted no time getting things going. "Miranda, Liz it'll be best if we move the civilians to the central control room."

"Already ahead of you." Miranda replied coolly as she pressed her earpiece, "Hana?"

"Civilians have been moved to the central control room. We're just waiting on you with some guards ready to hold off the enemy." Hana replied.

"Good. We'll be there in a moment." Miranda replied before facing everyone, "Shall we get moving?"

"Sure." BC said before turning to Hibiki and Dita. "Hibiki, Dita! You two head to your machines and get out there to support our forces ASAP!"

"We're on it!" Hibiki replied taking Pyoro with them to navigate back to the hangar.

"I'll be joining them to take command of G-Team." Cecilia added as she also ran after them.

"You do that while we hold the fort." Seth replied, "If Bacterian show up they're your priority."

"Got it!" Cecilia yelled back.

Seth and the others went into the halls to hold off the enemy while the civilians were in the safe room. Standing in front of a large door the group waited for the enemy to breach with Barnette holding an M16 assault rifle, BC armed with her whip while Jura had a laser ring on each finger. Miranda, Hana and a few armed guards were also there with their own weapons with Miranda and Hana armed with Colt 45s and the guards with M16s like Barnette. Seth then went beside Barnette with his Glock 17 out.

Within seconds the enemy breached through the electronically locked door.

Seeing the enemy Jura immediately fired with each of her rings, but the beams simply bent and bounced off of the green spheres.

"A prism effect?" BC gasped.

"Good thing we have bullets. Give 'em a hell of a welcome!" Miranda yelled as she and her subordinates opened fire.

"Oh gross what are these things?" Jura asked before Barnette handed her a gun.

"It's clear that beams are useless against these things while solid projectiles are." Barnette told her.

BC struck down several of the spheres with her whip.

Seth and Barnette stood side by side shooting down target after target without missing a beat.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel." Seth commented.

"Agreed." Barnette said before she ran out of bullets. "Oh crap I'm out of shells. Well time to upgrade." She dropping the M16 and grabbing an M60 from her weapon bag.

Seth's eyes widened at the sight of the machine gun. "What the hell?! Where the hell did you get that?! No, don't answer."

"Mind if I borrow this?" BC asked taking a shotgun from the bag.

Barnette looked at her doubtfully, "Um commander are you sure you know how to use that?"

BC aimed the weapon and fired scoring a direct hit on each sphere in front of them, "Sorry did you say something?" She asked Barnette who merely smiled saying, "No nothing."

 _'Once again she continues to intrigue me.'_ Seth thought after seeing that display.

"They're behind us" Jura yelled turning around to shoot the enemy trying to flank them.

Hana and some guards along with Seth also turned around and opened fire gunning down the enemy with Seth staying back to back with Barnette.

Seth heard his earpiece buzz and placed his finger to it, "Meia? What's up?"

" _Seth! What's the situation in there?"_

"We're getting rather cramped in here but we're still holding our ground. How's it outside?"

" _It's getting chaotic out here! Bart can't take a shot since he can't risk hitting the station. Not to mention Bacterians have joined the battle but we're handling them just fine."_

"Crap! Just what we need! Still you gotta deal with the enemy outside if we're to leave so it's all on you. No pressure."

" _Thanks for pointing out the obvious smartass!"_

"You're a lifesaver!" With that Seth cut off the comm and he focused fire on the enemy once more. However as another enemy wave came up they were sooner engulfed in a stream of fire. Liz appeared from a side passage with a flamethrower.

"Well I can't let you all show off the entire time can I?" She wisecracked.

"Nice of you to join us." Miranda remarked as she reloaded another clip.

Seth soon emptied his weapon again and found out he was out of clips. "Crap! Barnette you got any spare clips?"

"No, Seth. But I got this instead." Barnette replied before grabbing an MP-10 from her bag and tossed it at him.

Seth caught the weapon and quickly checked the clip putting it back in before switching off the safety and changing to burst fire mode. "Works for me. Thanks love!"

He aimed the weapon and took down more spheres but the enemy numbers grew and the defense team were slowly pushed further and further back.

"Damn there's too many of them" Jura yelled.

BC looked to Liz and Miranda, "We have to hurry and rejoin the others or we'll be overrun".

Liz nodded, "Right follow me."

"Everyone fall back!" Miranda also ordered.

The group turned to follow Liz, but Barnette tripped on one of her discarded clips falling on her rear leaving her defenseless.

"Barnette" Jura yelled as the spheres swarmed around the brunette pilot.

Barnette raised Berretta and fired at the surrounding enemy hitting only a few as they tightened their circle around her. The fiery dread pilot closed her eyes thinking it was over until she heard a roar and gunshots being fired close to her.

"Not on my watch assholes!" Seth stood between her and the spheres shooting each of them until he ran out of ammo as well. With his gun empty Seth tossed the MP-10 at another sphere smacking it into a wall making it go splat.

"You alright?" Seth asked as he helped Barnette to her feet. Feeling his hand gently around her Barnette felt her body heat up and looked away from him blushing, "Um I'm fine...Thank you Seth." She said before her Gradian boyfriend suddenly yanked her to the side pulling her behind him.

Gasping Barnette watched Seth quick draw his kukri and slash a sphere out of the air in half as the remains splatted all over the floor.

"And don't come back!" Seth added before turning to his girlfriend and breathing out in relief. "Now shall we go?"

Barnette nodded and the two ran down the hall and into the safety of the central control room.

"Well nice of you two lovebirds join us." Gascogne teased as they closed the door behind them.

"Yeah, whatever." Seth replied, "We're still not out of the woods yet."

Almost immediately the doors burst open and the spheres flew forward immediately being halted by a laser grid preventing their entry.

"You just had to jinx us huh?" Hana face palmed.

"What?! It was going to happen after all." Seth deadpanned as he drew out his kukri.

"Well we've got bigger problems." Jura pointed at the spheres as they began changing form each of them becoming larger and stronger finally gaining enough mass to force their way through the laser grid, but once they did the floor below them erupted and Vandread Dita appeared destroying each of the enemies.

"It's been taken care of." Miranda sweat dropped.

"Sorry we're late!" Dita said to them.

Barnette growled. "You two sure took your time."

Gascogne smirked dangerously, "If I ever find out you took your time just so you could make an entrance you won't live long enough to regret it."

" _The enemy's been eliminated Seth. Is everyone alright?"_ Magno asked on Seth's earpiece.

"That's a relief and we're alright though a certain pair had to make a dramatic entrance to bail us out at the last second." Seth replied while giving the Vandread the evil eye.

"Just be glad they came on time." Miranda scolded Seth.

"Alright..." Seth sighed.

 **...**

It had taken some time to clean up the remains of the Harvester forces that attempted to finally end Delta Six. The Harvesters had no idea the Nirvana would be on site and thus had only used the floating blob like entities for their main assault. Not to mention the Bacterians also showed up too to complicate things but at the end the Nirvana crew and the residents of Delta Six came out on top.

Parfet and her team had helped greatly with fixing the station's shielding systems and even improving it to give it some extra measure of protection, better sensory systems to better detect enemies, stronger armor plating too that can take more damage, improving the point defense guns and turrets Miranda's crew had already installed making them more deadly and then the internal systems of the station. All in all they'd turned the station that was barely holding together into a fortress that could handle all but the most powerful attacks and made the angst people of the station feel more safe and secure.

In return for the repairs the people of Delta Six traded with the Nirvana crew and gave them food and other supplies from their surplus storage they'd had thanks to the Miranda and her crew when they first joined the station.

Before the Nirvana crew left Miranda saw Seth and Barnette once more. She'd already deduced that the two were very close and was confirmed when they admitted they were in a relationship. Miranda like many Gradians is still not a fan of Mejere especially with the events that led to Operation Reprisal and those responsible. She was initially against their relationship but after seeing that their love was indeed genuine she decided to have a talk with them which involved Barnette being scared for her life and also embarrassed along with Seth, and then she gave the two her blessing and a strong warning for Barnette.

"Don't screw this up or else."

Needless to say Barnette guaranteed Seth's sister figure that she wouldn't screw this up.

With that done the Nirvana left the station to make up for lost time and continue their trip to Mejere and Tarak.

 **A week later at Delta Six...**

"Miss Miranda, Liz, we've got visitors." Hana announced to the two leaders.

"Wow! We've got another group of them after last week's group. How nice." Liz remarked.

"Indeed. It's interesting." Miranda added as she noticed the annoyance on Hana's face. "Where are they from if I may ask?"

"They're from...Gradius ma'am." Hana replied with withheld anger.

Miranda's eyes narrowed at that while Liz's raised up.

"Gradius...Well that's unexpected. I wonder what brings them here." Liz said.

"I have an idea why." Miranda said as she stood up from her seat, "Hana, get the escort ready, we're going to see them personally."

"Yes, ma'am." The assistant replied as she went to do as ordered.

"From the looks on your faces I take it that these aren't the good Gradians." Liz implied.

"Not exactly. More like the ones I'd rather not deal with at all unless necessary." Miranda replied.

 **...**

Miranda, Hana and the security escort waited as Patch brought in the visitors Hana mentioned. Miranda growled as she glared hatefully at four of the people among the ten person party in front of her.

"Well look what decided to drop in all the way here?" She began with sarcasm, "What can I do for you wastes of space?"

 **To be continued.**

* * *

 **Seth finally gets his revenge on the one who made his life hell. I know everyone saw this coming. The bread crumbs were basically laid here and there.**

 **Now that Earth have lost their top agent what's next for them?**

 **Also with the little cliffhanger there you can bet that things are going to become even more hectic for the Nirvana crew and their allies especially their Gradian ace. You'll just have to wait for it.**


	6. Death in the Family

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Stage**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter VI: Death in the Family**

* * *

The Nirvana continue its journey through space constantly on alert for any surprises waiting for them. So far, they have thwarted one attack from Earth after the other but some of the crew have wondered how long their luck will last. One thing the crew do believe in that as long as they work together with the men of Tarak the Latisian Cecilia Daley and their Gradian ace Seth Reager, they can take on anything the Harvesters throw at them.

' _Things sure get boring quickly when we're not in a battle.'_ Seth thought as he wondered through the corridors of the ship after completing another training session with Hibiki and G-Team. The Tarakan teen has come a long way from the arrogant brat he started off as and now he was a much better pilot and team player. G-Team was a well-oiled machine who could keep up with the Gradian, work in sync and cover for him when he had to use the Alpinia's super weapons.

It almost reminded him of the Solar Assault team with him, Naomi and Cecilia. Even though there was hostility between him and Naomi they were still able to put that aside and work as a team to finish that difficult mission.

He soon finds himself at Reg Central and notices that the place was mostly empty due to the staff probably taking a deserved break from their duties leaving the only person in the room was Gascogne who's busy sorting through the list of supplies in stock on her desk's computer.

The leader of Reg Central notices someone's presence and looks up from the computer to spot Seth walking towards inside.

"Hey Seth. What brings you here?" Gascogne asked.

"I was bored and walked about and I ended up arriving here." Seth replied, "If you're busy then I can leave."

"No need to for that Seth. I was just finishing up here." Gascogne stated, "I'd thought you'd be with Barnette."

"She and the others are relaxing at the jacuzzi after we all had another go on the simulators." Seth replied.

"You sure are working hard." Gascogne said, "So, how about a game of cards with me then if you've got nothing to do?"

The Gradian shrugged, "Sure why not. We've got unfinished business to settle anyways." Pulling up a chair, he sits down, and they draw their starting hand.

"So, Seth, I've noticed you've gotten used to life with us pirates."

"What about it? Is there an issue?"

Gascogne shook a hand placatingly, "No, no. Nothing like that. I mean you've come a long way from just cooperating with us just for your own survival to now becoming a part of this big family." She showed her hand, "Three of a kind."

Seth smiled warmly, "Family…Yes, a big one indeed." He then showed his own hand, "In fact a Full House."

Gascogne whistled in amazement. "Wow."

Then Hibiki entered Reg Central and noticed the two playing. "Hey! You're both here."

"Yes, we are bro." Seth deadpanned.

"So, what's brought you here?" Gascogne asked the teen.

"I'm bored. There's nothing to do." Hibiki replied.

"Then how about you join us?" Gascogne asked before looking at Seth, "You have any problems with that?"

"Nope. He's welcome to join the party." Seth replied.

…

Inside the jacuzzi, Barnette, Cecilia, Meia, Jura and some other women soaked themselves to relax.

Cecilia was beside Barnette with a cheeky smile on her face. "So, Barnette, have you done it yet with Seth?"

Barnette looked at the Latisian in confusion. "Done what with Seth?"

"Oh, I dunno. This, that and all things fun." Cecilia said cheekily.

"Seriously, what do you mean?" Barnette asked again. Cecilia went up beside her and whispered into her ear. The Mejerian's face became red and not because of the hot water they were in. "W-What?! Are you crazy?!"

Cecilia covered the woman's mouth, "Oy! Not so loud, Barnette!"

Barnette removed the Latisian's hands from her mouth, "N-No! We haven't done that." She whispered, "Sure we've slept together and maybe cuddled but nothing past that."

Cecilia shrugged, "Could have fooled me considering how close you both are."

"Yeah, we're close. Hell, I love him but like I said we haven't reached that point." Barnette replied.

Cecilia nodded, "Because he doesn't want to rush things. He's still getting used to loving someone again…considering you know who."

Barnette frowned, " _Her,_ right? I'd thought he'd gotten over her."

Cecilia sighed, "He most likely did until he saw her again that day. You saw the look on his face, right?"

Barnette recalled that. Seth was royally pissed…and hurt too. "Yeah, I did see that. I didn't realize it was that deep."

"Unfortunately, it was. Seth seeing her again just reopened that wound." Cecilia said, "I've done my part to help him and from what I know so have the captain, Gascogne and Miranda. It's down to you to really help him as his girlfriend."

A serious look came on Barnette, "Oh, I'll do more than that. I'll make sure that _she_ didn't even exist at all when I'm around him."

Cecilia smiled and relaxed in the warm water. "You do that."

…

Dita runs toward Reg Central holding a big plate of rice balls, for a certain Vanguard pilot, eager to see what his reaction will be. She soon reaches the supply room. "Mr. Alien, I made some rice balls for ya!" She called out.

Not hearing a reply Dita looks forward to spot Misty feeding Hibiki a sandwich while himself and Seth play cards with Gascogne. A taunting smirk forms on Misty's face when she spots Dita. Seth notices this and sighs in annoyance before whispering to Gascogne. 'Incoming catfight at 2 o'clock.'

'I see that too.' Gascogne whispered back.

A tick mark appears on the Dita's head and marches up to them somehow not spilling a single rice ball, snatches the sandwich out of Hibiki's mouth and slams her plate of stacked food down on the table, the Vanguard pilot isn't bothered as he wastes no time grabbing a rice ball to munch on.

"What was that for?!" Misty cried out.

"Mr. Alien doesn't like sandwiches, he likes rice balls instead!" Dita replied glaring. The two girls glare at one another with lighting coming out of their eyes making Seth shake his head in annoyance.

Gascogne pressed down on a timer and said, "It's your turn." Hibiki quickly downs the rest of the rice ball before starting his turn.

Dita noticed the timer, "What's this for, Ms. Gasco?"

"Hibiki wastes too much time babbling about stuff so from now on, we get 3 minutes per turn." Gascogne explained, "And by the way, it's not Gasco it's Gascogne!"

'She's so sensitive about that.' Hibiki whispered to Seth.

'It's common sense bro.' Seth replied.

Gascogne smirked, "Time's almost up, kid."

"I know that!" Hibiki snapped. He then showed his hand, "Here they are! A pair of jacks!" A cocky grin forms on his face.

Gascogne showed her hand, "Got a full house." Hibiki groans.

"Straight flush for me." Seth said revealing his winning hand.

Misty accuses Dita of ruining Hibiki's concentration, Dita accuses Misty of doing it not her.

"This calls for one more shot!" Hibiki declared.

"You don't know when to quit?" Seth wondered, "But that's a good thing too."

…

At the medbay, Cecilia watches Barnette take pictures of Jura holding Ezra's baby in various poses.

"How do I look now? Stunning?" Jura asked.

"You look amazing, Jura! No matter which angle I take a picture from, you look like the holy mother herself!" Barnette replied.

Cecilia rolls her eyes in amusement.

Jura laughed with a smile, "I know! I'm so gorgeous it's almost impossible to believe!"

"You have to be gentle when holding a baby!" Pyoro exclaimed jumping up and down. The women direct their attention at the white robot.

Jura glared at him, "Why must you be so damn annoying? Can't you butt out when I'm having a little photo shoot?" She gave him the infant, "There! You happy now?"

"Can't you be a little unselfish once in a while?" Pyoro asked the buxom blonde. He put the baby in her crib, "There we go. Time for a nap."

Jura squealed, "She's so cute! I hope I can have one soon!" Barnette shakes her in amusement of her friend's antics. Besides she's had thoughts of having a child with Seth after this mess with Earth was over.

"I'm surprised she hasn't laughed at all!" Paiway stated.

"She's only a few days old so she still can't see things clearly. It will be a while before the baby shows any facial expressions, in any case I happen to find the baby interesting." Duero explained to the young nurse. The doctor couldn't help but be curious about this.

"She's not the baby! She's Pyoro 2!" Pyoro shouted.

Ezra giggled, "Silly Pyoro, her name is Mary."

Cecilia tilted her head, "Mary, huh? Nice name."

"Yes, Seth was the one that suggested the name for her." The gentle bridge bunny said.

"It's Pyoro 2 and that's the end of the story!" Pyoro shrieked only to be grabbed by Cecilia and then thrown into the wall.

"Stupid piece of scrap metal." Cecilia mumbled in annoyance. Who the hell names a baby after a machine?!

The alarms sound as the Nirvana's radar picks up an enemy signature, the main screen pops up to show those in the bridge a familiar foe.

"That's a Harvest flagship alright." Magno concluded.

"It is possible that it's one of the other ships that changed course as a result of our battle with the previous one." BC theorized.

Seth showed up on a separate screen. "So, what? All we have to do is destroy it like the last one. Problem solved."

Magno nodded in agreement, "True. Well then, let's get rid of them."

The Dread Teams, Alpinia and Lord British take off for another firefight with their enemy with Vandread Jura and Valkyrie also entering the fray.

Misty gasped at the image of the Harvest flagship, "We're going up against that monster?"

"We've beaten them once before, Misty. Experience has helped in building our confidence." Magno assured the teen.

Pyoro added his two cents, "We'll surround them and wipe them out with the main cannon!"

The Seed ships releases cube types.

…

"Follow the mechs' lead and engage the enemy!" Meia ordered.

Seth added, "If Bacterians show up we'll split up and engage them!"

"Meia, Seth, look over there!" The pilots watch as the blocks of cube-types fuse to form a copycat version of the Nirvana, taking everybody by surprise.

"Oh God…" Cecilia gasped.

"What the hell?!" Barnette yelled.

Hibiki gasped, "What?"

"You're kidding!" Jura added. Even people on the bridge of the Nirvana.

"What? The Nirvana? No way!" BC stated.

Seth just facepalmed. "Of course, the fuckers would pull this off. They're playing for keeps after all."

"Don't worry! It's a known fact that a fake is always weaker than the original!" Bart yelled confidently.

"I like your confidence Bart!" Seth said.

That snapped the crew out of their shock and got them resuming battling with their enemy.

Vandread Jura and Valkyrie race toward the Nirvana doppelganger.

Jura growled, "You guys are really pissing me off! Just you wait, I'll capture every last one of you!" The crimson red Vandread launched its discs, "Commence holding!" The enemy becomes trapped inside the green shield.

Hibiki and Seth narrowed their eyes at this, "Something doesn't feel right." Hibiki muttered.

"I don't like this one bit." Seth also muttered.

"What do you mean Seth? We've got the situation under control." Barnette said.

"Something tells me otherwise." Seth said before contacting Vandread Jura, "Hibiki, Jura, keep your guard up." Valkyrie had its antimaterial rifle out and ready.

The two men are proven right when the Nirvana doppelganger fires its red lasers at the discs, this in turn causes the shield to break up.

"Shit! I knew it! Hibiki, Jura, move it!" Seth yelled out. The Vandread managed to move just as Valkyrie locked on to the doppelganger and unloaded a barrage of shots on it with explosions going off. The Valkyrie soon stopped the barrage and the smoke was beginning to clear.

"Did we get it?" Jura asked.

They got their answer in the form of a laser barrage coming out from the smokescreen that bombards the two mechs. Vandread Jura got hit by the barrage while Valkyrie manages to put up its shield in time to defend itself but that lasted a short while as the shield soon got overwhelmed and both mechs got pounded. The pilots scream as their crafts gets mercilessly pounded by enemy fire.

"Jura! We've got to separate, or we'll be sleeping with the fishes." Hibiki stated, only to gasp when he spotted blood on his hand then to an injured Jura. The pilot realizes that the situation has gone from bad to worse.

"Seth! No! No! Stay with me!" He heard Barnette yell. Yep this had gone to hell.

"What's wrong Barnette?!" Hibiki yelled.

"Seth's badly injured." Barnette replied.

All the Dread Teams, Cecilia and Nirvana crew members are shocked at what they heard.

Meia quickly recovered and yelled, "Hibiki! Barnette! Separate now! G-Team, we'll be covering everyone's retreat! Nirvana have gurneys ready! Everyone else pull back!" The Valkyrie and Vandread Jura separated back into the Alpinia, Vanguard and Dreads.

Barnette yelled in rage, "How dare you do that to Seth and Jura!" She fires her Dread's guns until the Reg delivery ship blocks her path.

"Barnette, pull back immediately!" Gascogne ordered, "What the enemy's doing took us completely by surprise."

"Shut up! Don't get in the way!" Barnette snapped.

"There's no way you can win when you are this hot-headed. You should consider this a direct order." Gascogne said stoically.

The brunette snarls but then feels her and Jura's Dreads and the Alpinia being towed away by the Reg delivery ship. The rest of the fighters follow suit.

Barnette slammed her gloved fists on the control console of her Dread, "Seth. Jura." Immediately after returning to the Nirvana, both Jura and Seth are rushed to the medbay where Duero hooks them up to vital monitors and puts oxygen masks over their mouths.

"They're both in bad shape, but they'll pull through." Barnette stares at the sight of her boyfriend and best friend, concern etched on her face.

"Treat them both, okay?" Hibiki asked as he checked the cut on his arm.

"Please make sure you bring them back okay?" Barnette added.

"You can count on me doing so." Duero assured them, "However, I still have to treat you both."

"I'm good doc." Hibiki said.

"I only got a few scratches, I'm fine." Barnette said.

"Paiway, treat Barnette's injury." Duero told the young nurse who wasted no time going to Barnette's side. He then turned back to Hibiki, "Hibiki, I need to look at your personal data, so I know how to treat your injury." Hibiki scoffs, tossing his ID card over to him then walks to a nearby wall and slams his fist on it.

He uttered, "Damn it, I underestimated them. That's the reason Jura and Seth ended up injured."

"But, Mr. Alien..." Dita began.

Hibiki snapped at her, "I'm not in the mood to hear that so shut up!"

"You don't have to take it out on Dita. What happened to your usual good humor?" Gascogne said leaning against the doorway.

Duero attempts to use Hibiki's ID card but he winds up receiving an "error" message, much to his confusion.

Gascogne surveyed the room, "Everyone's all gloomy in here. There is no point in staying around here, why don't you all return to your posts?"

"Why? Why did you refuse the delivery?" Barnette asked, "I wanted to keep fighting for Jura's sake!" Gascogne stares at the brunette with a serious look on her face.

…

"How far do we have to run away?" Bart asked Magno.

"Until we have a chance to fight back." Magno answered.

"All I'm asking is where we're supposed to go!" The helmsman clarified.

Magno snapped, "I'm thinking about it so shut up and stay on course! You're good at running away, aren't you?"

Bart sighed, "Understood."

…

Barnette slammed her hand on the table and demanded, "Answer me, Ms. Gasco!"

"It's because you would be dying a fool's death." Gascogne replied.

"But we can't win without fighting and if we don't win, we're all going to die anyway!" Barnette said fearfully.

"At that point, the mission was a failure. It's the job of those behind the scenes to remind those who forget how the show's supposed to run." The Reg leader explained.

"How you can be so damn cold?" Barnette asked bitterly.

"You tend to make the wrong decisions when you let your emotions rule you." Gascogne replied calmly.

Hibiki scoffed, "Yeah, it's all fine when you are sitting at a nice safe distance. The feelings of those fighting on the front line can never be understood!" The Reg leader turned to him as he continued, also unknown to them a certain someone had woken up. "You always stand there with a smirk on your face, making sarcastic remarks about our failures and mistakes. There's no way someone like you could ever understand those desperate to stay alive! There's no way you could understand someone's pain!" The two glare at each other with huge tension in the air.

Gascogne broke the silence, "This is so pathetic. What's the point of making excuses? I'll be as sarcastic as I want if it means we survive. If it makes you happy, kid, then go ahead and take all the chances you want after your life in this realm ends!" She walked towards Hibiki and stared at him in the eyes, "But you can count me out of it! I'll clench my teeth and make sure that I survive it all!" With that said, Gascogne leaves the med bay.

"Hibiki, let me tend to your wounds. I can't risk having you getting them infected." Duero said.

Hibiki sighed, "Sure."

Misty looked at the doorway and wondered, "You think she'll be okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about her! There's no way someone like her could understand peoples' suffering!" Hibiki replied. Suddenly someone walks up to him grabs him by his jacket and slams him into the wall, making everyone inside the room gasp. The one who did it being a pissed off bandaged Seth.

The Gradian growled, "And an arrogant brat like you could? And here I thought you'd grown up but looks like I'm wrong." He then punched Hibiki in the stomach and dropped him like trash before leaving the med bay ignoring Duero calling him back and Dita and Misty rushing to Hibiki. Barnette chased after Seth.

Meia walks up to Hibiki with a cold facial expression.

"She knows more about pain and suffering than anyone else, bearing emotional scars that none of us can imagine, with the only one who could being Seth." She began.

…

Entering her room, Gascogne looks at a box then takes the stick out of her mouth and squeezes, transforming it into a key. She opens the box with it to show some jewellery and a picture of her as a little girl with someone else. A solemn look dons her features as she begins to remember her childhood.

 **Flashback…**

 _A young Gascogne runs down an alleyway on Mejere with her older sister._

 _Cassandra said, "This will be our little secret, okay? Watch this, Gascogne!" She squeezes the stick and it turns into a key, earning her a gasp from her younger sibling._

 _Years later, they both grew into young adults, but their relationship wasn't what it once was._

 _"Ms. Rheingau, your lack of anger and focus is completely unacceptable! You need to concentrate!" Cassandra scolded._

 _Gascogne apologized, "I'm sorry, sister."_

 _Her older sister reminded, "And another thing. When on duty, our relationship is that of soldier and commander! Is that understood?"_

 _Gascogne straightened up, "Yes, ma'am!"_

 _One day, an incident occurred, and the authorities were ordering the citizens to evacuate when suddenly the colony was rocked by an explosion!_

 _"Commander, the rioters have accidentally breached the outer walls!" A soldier informed. The powerful vacuum effect of outer space begins to pull unfortunate women to their doom through the breached wall, a little girl was about to join them, but Cassandra catches her and hands her to Gascogne. Blast doors engage, sealing off the room and separating the two siblings._

 _Gascogne pounded on the blast doors saying, "Commander, I'm gonna call for help!"_

 _Cassandra shook her head from her side, "Forget it, it's too late! You were right. This is our homeland, we grew up here. I was proud to call you my little sister, I leave the rest to you Gascogne." The ruptured wall expands sucking the older Rheingau out._

 _Gascogne yelled, "Sister? Sister! Sister!" The future Reg leader falls to her knees sobbing after ceasing pounding on the door, which is now stained with blood. This is also when Magno found her while forming the crew._

 **End of flashback…**

'It was only a few centimeters away! If only were I calmer. If only I was more collected...' The Reg leader thought in sadness. A knock came on her door making her turn around to see Seth standing in the doorway.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked.

"Shouldn't you be recovering?" Gascogne asked.

"I'm a lot tougher than the average. It'll take more to take me out." Seth replied, "Sorry about the brat. I'd thought he'd be more disciplined than that."

Gascogne waved the Gradian off, "No need Seth. I understand why he'd react like that."

Seth frowned, "Still didn't mean he'd act like an ass." He then spots the box and the photo in it. "So, we're alike…both people with emotional scars."

"Pretty much, though yours runs deeper than mine." Gascogne said before closing the box and locking it.

"Wanna talk about it?" Seth asked.

Gascogne began, "That was my older sister. She meant a lot to me when I was younger, was even my superior officer too in the military."

"Sounded like a good person." Seth said.

"She was a great person. Then due to an accident she gave up her life to save a child." Gascogne finished turning to Seth, "I don't want any sympathy okay. I've come to terms with the past and moved on. What about you?"

"I long since have. Thanks to you, Barnette, Cecilia and everyone else." Seth replied. "Looks like we've both walked down that path already."

"Yes, we have Seth. Yes, we have."

"Seth!"

The Gradian turned around to see Barnette behind him with worry on her face.

"What are you doing?! You should be recovering from your wounds!"

"Just making sure a member of the family was alright. Besides I'm very good thanks to Duero and Paiway." Barnette got closer and got his hand.

"I thought I was going to lose you and Jura out there! You need to rest." Barnette stated.

"Like I said I'm alright and Jura will be back up soon. Though I doubt the enemy's going to give us the chance to rest." Seth replied. Suddenly the ship alarms went off and their communicators followed with both pilots answering.

" _Where are you?!"_ Meia yelled, _"The enemy's caught up to us. We're about to go engage them."_

"I'm on my way Meia! Just trying to get Seth back to the med bay." Barnette replied.

"Like I told Barnette I'm good to go. I was just making sure Gascogne was fine after the brat's stupidity." Seth said while giving his girlfriend a deadpanned expression.

Gascogne grinned at the two.

" _If you say that you're fine then I'll take your word for it. Just get out there."_ Meia said before going off.

"Well duty calls for us." Seth said while Barnette sighed at him and left. He moved to follow.

"Hold up!" Seth stopped when Gascogne called out to him and turned back.

"Thanks for caring Seth and listening to me."

"Just like you did for me Gascogne. Family look out for each other after all."

"Yes, indeed."

"Seth c'mon!" Barnette called out.

"On my way!" He replied and ran.

…

The pilots were soon out for another go at the enemy.

"Seth? You're really sure you can fight after what happened earlier?" Barnette asked her boyfriend with concern.

"Don't worry about me Barnette, I'm fine. I underestimated them, and they caught us by surprise." Seth said. "A mistake I won't make again."

"Sure, but how are we gonna deal with that Nirvana copy? Damned thing nearly took you two, Hibiki and Jura out last time." Cecilia deadpanned.

Seeing Vandread Meia out there Seth answered with, "Hibiki and Meia should have an idea if that Vandread's out there."

The Vandread charges up and plows through the Seed Ships like a locomotive but before they attack the flagship, the red Nirvana transforms into a hideous giant robot.

"Oh crap! This just escalated." Cecilia remarked.

The enemy robot fires beams from its chest and Hibiki and Meia take evasive action.

"Dita on me! Let's bring the heavy hitter out for this!" Seth ordered.

"Alright Seth!" Dita acknowledged. The two fighters came together and out came Berserker with its greatsword out.

"Everyone out of the way!" Dita yelled which the other pilots did as they got out of dodge.

Berserker swung at the enemy robot which also produced a sword of its own and easily blocked the attack. The two kept swinging away at each other before entering a blade lock.

"We're not making a dent!" Dita stated.

"Then we'll have to hit harder." Seth said.

Berserker broke the deadlock and moved back. An orange aura came over its greatsword before rearing back and charging at its foe once more.

"Try this on for size!" Seth yelled as Berserker swung hard.

The enemy mech also came in with a powerful swing of its own. Both blades clashed and both shattered throwing both mechs off balance and Seth and Dita grunting in pain.

"Seth! Dita!" The Dread pilots yelled in concern.

"Don't worry! We got this!" Dita reassured them.

"C'mon!" Seth roared as they both got Berserker to recover its balance and then throw a haymaker at the enemy which impacted loudly. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything than move its head slightly before it slapped the fist off its face and with both arms grabbed the Berserker in a tight grasp. The pilots tried to escape but to no avail and the evil mech charged up its chest laser.

"Oh no!" Dita cried.

"No way! Not like this!" Seth yelled as they continued to struggle.

Suddenly missiles impact the evil mech forcing it to let go of them and giving them the chance to defuse. The pilots turn their heads and see the Reg Central Ship charging in firing missiles.

Gascogne chuckled, "Heh, was that too much for someone behind the scenes?"

The giant robot drives its hand into the Reg delivery ship however, Gascogne presses the assault despite Fake Vandread Jura slamming into her ship as well.

Seth quickly notices what's up and yells, "Gascogne what are you doing?!"

"Protecting my family. That's all!" Gascogne responded as she pressed on.

The fighter pilots watch in horror as Gascogne drives her ship, the red Nirvana and Fake Vandread into the Harvest flagship kamikaze style.

Seth, Hibiki, Dita and Meia's eyes fill with shock and horror by what happened.

"Ms. Gasco! Ms. Gasco!" Barnette cried.

"Daaamnn iiiiitttt!" Seth screamed.

* * *

 **Chapter 6 End.**

 **Well that went to hell in the worst way possible…**

 **How's Seth going to cope with this loss? Better yet will he be able to at all?**


	7. Raging Vengeance

**Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Stage**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.**

 **Chapter VII: Raging Vengeance**

* * *

The crew of both ships watch as a fireball engulfs the Reg delivery ship, destroying it.

On the Nirvana's bridge, BC snapped out of her state of shock and ordered, "Ezra!"

Ezra nodded automatically, "Right! Ms. Gasco, please come in! Ms. Gasco!"

Back out in space, the red Nirvana emerges from the explosion unharmed. Tears of sadness run down Seth's face upon witnessing the death of another member of the family, one he saw as another big sister like Miranda. That sadness soon turns to rage and thirst for vengeance as he glares at the enemy.

"You are dead you hear me…YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD!" The Gradian yelled as he defused from Berserker and races to the enemy seeing nothing but red. Close by, Hibiki also snaps!

"Bastard! I'll get you!" He also yells. He defuses Vandread Meia and the enraged young Tarak draws his Vanguard's sword and joins the Alpinia, and both fuse and out comes Assassin. The two male pilots prepare to unleash hell but Meia's voice comes over on the comms.

"Everyone! Pull back now!" She ordered.

"Out of the way Meia!" Seth barked back.

"Get out of the way! We're taking that bastard down!" Hibiki also barked. The Lord British gets in front of the mech.

"Not in your current state of mind! No way are we winning if we are not thinking straight! Especially you two!" Cecilia yelled at the two. A vision of Gascogne flashes through their minds snapping Hibiki and Seth out of their angered state and joining the others in the retreat.

…

The Nirvana retreat to somewhere safe, before it suddenly turns around on its own and throws Bart out of the helm. He lands on his butt in complete bewilderment he was never thrown out of the helm until now.

He blinked a few times, "What the hell?"

"Why did you come out?" Belvedere asked.

"I don't know, it changed course all on its own!" Bart replied before holding his hand, "And I burnt my hand."

Ezra repeatedly tries to contact Gascogne until Magno orders her to stop, accepting the fact that Gascogne's dead.

The Nirvana heads for safety of a nearby nebula with the Assassin and the Dreads shooting down any pursuing enemy forces before returning to the ship. The Harvesters cease following their prey and wait for them to come out of the nebula.

The Dreads land first inside the Nirvana followed by the Lord British, Vanguard and Alpinia.

"We've completed docking, captain." Meia reported.

Magno nodded, "Good work, Meia."

The Dread leader frowned, "Please accept my apology for what happened to Gascogne."

"That's enough for now." Magno ordered.

Meia began to protest, "But captain..."

Magno cut her off, "Let it go, will ya? Remain on standby for now."

Meia sighed, "Understood." After closing the transmission, she slammed her fist, "Damn it! I thought I've become strong enough to not be fazed by something like this." The urge to cry threatens to overwhelm her and she tries her hardest not to while stepping out of her Dread. She buries her face in her hand, quiet sobs escape her before she lets it go.

The rest of the crew feel the same way, the only thing they can do is cry.

When Seth climbed out of the Alpinia he threw his helmet at the nearest wall and began screaming and swearing before he approached the same wall and began punching it repeatedly and cursing more. No one dared approach the volatile man until a few minutes later when the Gradian eventually stopped and just left the hangar in silence.

Like everyone else he took this hard.

"Just as I suspected. What happened to Gascogne is having a major effect on the crew! Especially dealing with the loss of someone they considered an older sister to them." BC said. She tightens her grip on a bridge control console feeling the pain of loss.

"But what she left is just as big, BC. She left a huge gaping hole in their mothership and that means we still have a way out of this." Magno stated.

…

Inside the med bay, Barnette sits at Jura's bedside, clenching her fists in a sobbing matter.

"Damn, I missed my opportunity to apologize to Ms. Gasco. Why did this have to happen? Why?" Barnette said. She feels Jura wipe her tears away, she looks down to see her friend staring up at her with a smile.

"The Barnette that I know is much stronger and cuter than that." The injured blonde woman said. She was able to get Barnette to smile by rubbing her cheek and in turn made her smile, "See? You look much better now." Barnette holds Jura's hand embracing the comfort her close friend was offering. Though Barnette and Gascogne had their heated arguments, they did have an unwavering respect for each other.

"What about Seth? Shouldn't you be with him too? I doubt he's taking this well either." Jura asked.

Barnette gasped as she hadn't checked on her boyfriend since they'd docked. She wasted no time running out of the med bay.

…

Cecilia gazes out the window of an empty hallway admiring the beauty of the nebula they're hiding in though it's bitter sweet because she fully knows that the Harvesters are waiting for them to come out.

She may not have known Gascogne as long as the others, but she understood the pain of loss just as much as the crew. The loss of her lover during a Bacterian invasion had messed her up badly to the point of being catatonic. It was only because of her parents and cousins that she was able to recover.

A more pressing matter however is how Seth was taking Gascogne's death. She knows that the Gradian saw the older Mejerian as another big sister like Miranda.

She sighed, "Why did things have to go from bad to worse?"

…

Hibiki enters what he assumes is the empty Reg Central only to see that the lights were on and someone was inside. He then spots Dita holding a smiling mushroom hand puppet in front of an unresponsive Seth that's just sitting at the desk where he, Hibiki and Gascogne played cards.

"Smile! Smile!" Dita said trying to cheer the Gradian up.

"What are you doing? Can't you see that he doesn't want to laugh?" Hibiki asked dryly. Her smiling face added to his annoyance, "How can you smiling at a time like this?!"

"Because...I have no idea what face I should make." Dita answered, "You see when I was a little girl, when the living unit I lived in closed down, everyone was sad just like now. Whenever I messed up or said something silly, everyone laughed. So now I want everyone to be happy not sad, Mr. Alien."

They both hear the door open and see Barnette who first looked at Seth before she spotted Hibiki and her mood soured immediately.

"You…Why? Tell me, Hibiki. Why didn't you save Ms. Gasco?" She asked.

"What was that? Speak up, I didn't hear you." Hibiki said.

Barnette spoke up, "You should have focused more on what was happening around you!"

"Are you saying that it's my fault that Gascogne died?" Hibiki asked in annoyance.

"Well you always brag about stuff but when it comes down to it, you're completely useless!" Barnette yelled back.

Before Hibiki could retort an angry male voice raised his voice, **"Could you two just shut up?!"**

Hibiki, Barnette and Dita turned wide eyed to see a pissed off Seth.

"We all fucked up! And because of that Gascogne had to step up and undo our fuckup!" Seth spoke out before calming down and getting serious, "So instead of bickering like fucking hyenas hanging on the bottom of the food chain…let's make those bastards pay!" As he gets up he knocks over the timer Gascogne used while playing cards, directing the occupants' attention to it.

Gascogne's words play in Hibiki's mind, _"Hey, it's your turn. Show me your hand."_

Hibiki balled his fist with a look of determination, "Alright, I'll show you. Get everyone down on the double, time for a tactical meeting!"

Hibiki rushes out with Dita following after him.

"Might as well follow and see what Hibiki's got planned." Seth said also walking out and Barnette chasing him down. While in the hallway she catches up to him.

"Seth…Are you alright?!" Barnette asked.

Seth sighed. "I'm not alright Barnette. In fact, I'm worn down. Like everyone else Gascogne's death hurts a lot." He closes his eyes. "How many more people must die before enough is enough?! How many more deaths do I have to keep with me?! We deserve to live in peace, not hunted down like animals by the bastards!" He managed to steel himself and calm down. "Enough is enough." He flinches slightly when Barnette hugs him from behind, laying her head against his back. Turning around Seth returns the embrace.

"H-How do you do it Seth?" Barnette asked, "How are you able to continue on while bottling it all up?"

"Because I can't weep as long as bastards like the Harvesters and the Bacterians are still out there continuing their atrocities." Seth replied, "I was only able to weep for the Reagers because I'd sent those Red Vixens to hell, but for Melanos, Akira and Gascogne I can't yet."

"So, when will you then?" Barnette asked.

"When those bastards are gone for good." Seth replied.

Deciding to lighten the mood Barnette looked out the window at the stars and pointed at them. "Look. Aren't they beautiful? The stars seem so close that it makes you want to reach out and touch them."

"Indeed, they are." Seth replied, managing a smirk, "And if we want to enjoy them even more we'll have to deal with those fuckers outside spoiling things first."

Down in the engine room, Parfet watches the red light vanish from the Paksis.

…

"What's the meaning of this?" BC demanded as she entered the briefing room.

"I've figured out a way to destroy the enemy mothership." Hibiki said.

BC narrowed her eyes, "How?"

Misty showed her the solution to their problem, "With this."

The platinum-haired woman gasped, "It's that capsule!"

The red-eyed teen nodded, "Yep, it's the virus that eats up the Paksis. We can beat them with this."

Hibiki asked, "Is it ready?"

Misty pointed at Pyoro, "Yeah! All we need to do now is have him eat it!"

Pyoro blinked then exclaimed, "I wasn't informed about this! I don't wanna be separated from Pyoro 2!" Two guns get pointed at its face belonging to an angry Gradian and Latisian while Ezra snatches her baby away.

"How many times have I told you? Her name is Mary, not Pyoro 2!" She complained.

Seth threatened, "Hey robot! Call the baby that ridiculous name again…"

"And we'll send you to the scrap heap." Cecilia finished.

Pyoro kept its mouth shut, wanting to continue living.

"With that taken care of, how are we going to get through the enemy line to use that capsule?" Meia asked.

"I have that figured out. I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to unveil my latest invention! The enemy's a machine, right? So, I have developed a weapon that shoots an EMP pulse strong enough to disable the link." Parfet explained, "However, the pulse only lasts for a few seconds at best. Lord British will be carrying the weapon, Cecilia."

"Sure, no problem." The Latisian acknowledged.

Hibiki smirked, "Alright! Let's teach them those scrapheaps a lesson! You with me?"

The other Dread pilots yelled in unison, "Yeah!"

"I see that you're doing better." Cecilia said to Seth.

"Yeah, much better than earlier." Seth replied, "This time we're not fucking around."

…

The fighters take off to meet the enemy.

"Pyoro 2!" Pyoro whined.

"Oh, for the love of…quit whining already!" Cecilia yelled.

Hibiki combines with Meia to create Vandread Meia once again and speed through the enemy blockade and Seth and Barnette combine to create Valkyrie and follows after them. Cecilia orders the other pilots to give covering fire. The two mechs continue their advance with Dita following them closely as the Lord British and other dreads cover them.

The infiltration team enter the flagship through the hole created by Gascogne in her kamikaze attack, guns light up the inside as they near their destination.

"Not so fast shit stains!" Seth yells as Valkyrie quickly shoots the guns down with its rifle and they continue.

They soon reach the heart of the enemy flagship.

"It's too quiet we better stay alert, don't you screw this up." Meia warned.

Hibiki nodded, "Yeah. You hear that, Dita? You're up next."

Dita replied, "Roger." Hibiki defuses Vandread Meia and combines with Dita to form Vandread Dita, at the same time Pyoro makes his way to where he can upload the virus.

"We'll take watch." Barnette says as Valkyrie stays on guard.

Pyoro gets to work on installing the virus.

The red Nirvana comes in and aims to shoot down Vandread Dita but Meia draws its attention to her. It fires its chest beam but the Dread leader weaves through the swarm of lasers.

Hibiki asked, "Pyoro, are you done yet?"

The white robot said, "Almost got it!"

Meia alerted, "Enemy closing from 11 o'clock!"

"On it!" Seth acknowledged as Valkyrie bashes Fake dread Meia with its shield before it follows up by slicing it in two with its sword.

A cube-type attempts to attack Meia at point-blank range, but it gets trashed by an emerald beam, the infiltration team turn their heads to see a crimson red Dread flying in.

"Jura!" Barnette gasped.

"Damn girl! You just couldn't sit this one out huh!" Seth added.

"Shut up! Don't just stand there, hurry up and finish the job!" Jura yelled.

 _"Don't push yourself, your painkillers will wear off pretty soon."_ Duero warned.

The blonde-haired woman chuckled knowingly, "I'm aware of that. That's why I am telling them to hurry up!"

Meia advises Hibiki and Dita to aim for the vein-like branch the red Nirvana's using to stand on, the laser cannons on Vandread Dita's back deploy and open fire destroying the structure. The evil doppelganger falls.

"Pyoro, you better hurry!" Hibiki advised.

"So annoying! Why don't you Harvest punks eat this! Launch the virus!" Pyoro yells as he finishes the installation. The capsule releases the virus and filters it through the link to the Harvest units facing the pilots out in space.

 _"Hey, guys, looks like the plan worked! You better get out of there before something bad happens."_ Cecilia said. She is proven right when the red Nirvana rises from its fallen state and charges its chest beam, prompting Valkyrie to intercept the attack with its shield to protect the others.

Even with that it's not enough as the units are badly damaged, and the pilots hurt with Seth and Alpinia getting the least of it.

"Seth, it's not safe here. Get out of here while you still can." Meia ordered.

"Like hell am I doing that! I'm not leaving members of the family behind!" Seth yelled.

"It will be fine Mr. Seth because we won't lose." Dita assured, "I...don't want to see people have sad looks on their faces."

Seth saw the enemy charge its chest laser up again and flew in front of his fellow pilots, Options out in defiance. "You want to get them, you're gonna have to go through me!" He stared down the evil mech, "You're not taking any more of my family! Bring it on asshole!"

A fireball envelops them making everyone believe that the infiltration team had been killed. However, the damaged units instead fuse to create a new mech.

This new unit was humanoid in shape, had the physical appearance of both Vandread Dita and Meia and equipment of Vandread Jura and Valkyrie. Its armor was shiny silver mixed with obsidian and its fingers and visible joints were a glowing orange.

"Okay…What the hell?!" Cecilia yelled, pretty much confirming how stunned everyone was by the machine's appearance.

Inside new super mech's cockpit, Dita, Jura, Hibiki, Meia, Barnette and Seth see the internal transformation.

Dita sat on Hibiki's lap, Meia sat in a seat behind them, Barnette and Jura on opposite ends of Dita and Hibiki and Seth sat in a seat in front below them facing the controls.

"Another weapon for us and it's big." Seth said.

The enemy mech stares down with evil intentions in its glowing eyes.

Hibiki barked, "Hey! Don't just stand there, hurry up and do something!"

"I'm on it bro. It's not claiming anyone again." Seth said as his eyes glowed orange before slamming his hands on the console which seems to have triggered something because the moment the red Nirvana fires its chest beam again, their super mech forms a shield to deflect the attack. Next, it pulls a sword out of its hand and accelerates toward the red Nirvana raising the sword. With a mighty swing the super mech accelerates forward and cuts its giant opponent in half.

"Holy shit! That's amazing!" Cecilia yelled in amazement after the destruction of the Nirvana doppelganger by the mech piloted by her crew mates with just one swing of its blade.

Magno chuckled with a smile, "Amazing little children." The newly fused machine heads back to the real Nirvana and Bart wonders if he'll fuse with them at some point.

…

Inside the engine room, Jura and Meia stand on the skywalk with Meia looking at the Paksis.

"Back there it wasn't the Paksis coming to help us in our time of need against evil." Meia said.

"But it was the Paksis who made all the Dreads, Vanguard and Alpinia fuse together." Jura stated.

"It's because we all had the same thought, Jura. We were all optimistic and wanted to see it through to the end no matter what, that's why it happened." Meia clarified.

Jura turned her head to look at the Paksis too, "Wow! The Paksis keeps surprising us every day!"

Later that day, the crew asks Magno to hold a ceremonial service for Gascogne.

The pirate captain sighed heavily, "Alright BC, I leave the preparations to you. Call me when the service is ready."

BC nodded, "Understood."

Magno presses a button and her chair begins climbing up the conveyer belt to leave the bridge. Misty watches the aged pirate vanish from sight. "I feel sorry for the captain." She said.

"It's no surprise. You see, Gascogne has been the captain's partner ever since she joined our group." Ezra explained to the teen.

Amarone also added, "While she was like a big and loyal sister to all of us, she was like a daughter the captain never had."

In her quarters, Magno places her picture of Gascogne along side pictures of other deceased crew members inside an armoire she uses as a make-shift memorial shrine.

She heard her door panel beep, "Come in." The door opens to show Barnette holding the timer.

…

At Reg Central, Seth flips over the cards of his next hand it's comprised of 4 Aces and a Joker. "Good hand, huh?"

"Hey." A familiar voice called out.

Seth turned around and was surprised to see Barnette in a new attire instead of her usual one. This new one was composed of a short yellow top that left her stomach exposed, white vest, black shorts and ankle-high boots.

"What's with the new getup Barnette?" Seth asked.

"I'm taking over as leader of Reg Central." She answered.

"That's some large shoes to fill. You sure you can handle it?"

"Yeah, it's quite the responsibility but someone's got to do it."

Seth smiled at her and said, "You're right and I'll help out whenever I can."

She removed her crown jewel before contacting the bridge crew, "Captain, I'll be rewriting the security system so expect it to be down for a while."

BC blinked in shock, "Uh...roger that."

Magno smiled, "It may have been too early for Gascogne to go but to have someone follow in her footsteps, she must have lived a long, happy life." That night, the crew retire to their quarters after avenging a fallen comrade that they loved and respected very much.

Unfortunately for them another crisis was just around the corner the Nirvana's radar caught a group of space fighters and ship that was fast approaching them, and the alarms went off.

"We have multiple contacts incoming!" Belvedere announced.

"Seriously?! Who's it now?!" Magno complained as she entered the bridge along with BC. The image that came on the screen made her eyes narrow as she and everyone else recognized what was on their tail.

Gradius' Task Force had returned, and they'd brought backup with them. A dangerous one at that too.

' _This is going to turn disastrous in hurry. I just know it.'_ Magno thought.

…

Meanwhile in a corridor Seth looked out the window with narrowed eyes as he spotted the squad of Vic Vipers along with the Falchion Beta and a green fighter craft now known as Jade Knight. They'd returned and with backup.

Well he's done running from them. He's going to fight.

* * *

 **Chapter 7 End.**

 **The Nirvana crew have avenged their fallen comrade…only to be dumped right into the fire again as Gradius show up.**

 **The moment of truth has arrived. How will it turn out?**

 **Leave a review if you kindly. Flames will be sent to the trash.**


End file.
